Unity in Diversity: Media’s role in making of a peaceful world
(Original)

Sneh Shah
(Age 8, USA)
Mcvey Elementary School, East Meadow, New York

Till some time back, I did not know much about the role of media but then one whole year I spent in India. Till then I lived in New York. In India, I saw beggars for the first time. I saw how religion can divide people. When I was in India I came to know the word communication and media. Also in India, everyone would ask me what I was. Me being a girl, being a human being was important but still people wanted to know whether I was Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jew, etc.

India is the biggest democracy of the world. I belong to Gujarat a region where lots of people got killed some time back. The locals did not like them, because they were not following a specific religion. I love traveling and have family all over the world. I have been to Europe, Asian the Americas and the Caribbeans and many other places.

Wherever I have been in different parts of the world, language is different, colour of people is different, the way they eat, the way they pray is different. However all of them have two eyes, one nose, two ears. They are same. Only the way they think and behave is different. Also all of them have newspapers, television and radio. In some places like rural India, internet is still not there.

There is diversity all around. Media can help bring out the unity from the diversity and thereby making a peaceful world.

For example, media can do stories of how a Muslim and Christian are best friends. How they celebrate Eid and Christmas together. I think television cartoons and animation films can tell us stories about how different countries and cultures are and make us appreciate it. Till I had not gone out of New York, I had no clue of various cultures and various festivals. Media can make us more tolerant of other culture, countries and its people. If we know that it is perfectly normal for Muslims to pray in public or to dance with open swords during a Moharram procession, we will not be shocked when we see that for the first time.

Muslims think Christians are too forward thinking and they are very rigid about religion. However if we show that Christians and Muslims can be best friends and they have a lot of things in common between them, it will bring more tolerance. When tolerance comes, peace comes automatically.

I know that a peaceful world can come when there are no wars. But there will be no wars only when there is tolerance, when we know that Muslims cover their heads because of their history of the invasion. They wear robes not because they are jihaadis but because it is so hot in the Middle East.

Hindus do not eat beef because they worship cow as holy. We should not laugh at them because there are historical stories and proof of how this worship came into practice. Muslims don't eat pork. Christians eat turkey.

We can have a peaceful world if the media tells us stories of friendship, of compassion, of love and of trust between different people.

Recently my family read about a Muslim saint. Saibaba, a holy and famous saint where 50,000 people visit every day at his temple was a Muslim but even today most of his followers are Hindus and Christians. This is because Saibaba was very secular and he was like Martin Luther King who said don't judge people by their color but character. I am sure there are saints like Saibaba everywhere including Iraq and Bosnia or Russia and the media can tell us about it.

Community or colour does not matter. Why should I be treated differently because I am not white? Because my best friend is Black and I am Brown? Media should give more stories that helps the world understand that behind every white, black and brown there is red blood only. That being Yellow, White, Black or Brown does not matter. We are all one.

Everyone calls me a global citizen. I am proud of it. That is because I love Mexican and Chinese food. My best family holidays happen in Europe. My family is Indian and I live in America.

Media needs to highlight the fact that it is not only technology that has to be global. Why is it that we can see Disney or Pogo channel all over the world but we cannot see the same love among different people in the world? If media plays an active positive role in highlighting simple truths of life, peaceful world will become a reality and not simply remain an essay topic.