Are we really that different?

Nadezhda Neusypina
(Age 11, Russia)

People are different, but we are all people, Muslim, Christian, and Buddhist.I have lived in several countries and naturally met many people of different nationalities, and I learned that we all are not that different at all.

I was born in Russia.My mother is from Turkmenistan, from Central Asia.I lived in both countries and traveled between them until I was seven years old. When it was cold in Russia, my mom took me to Turkmenistan to my grandparents. In summer, I came back to Russia.I went to kinder garden in Turkmenistan and even learned to speak the Turkmen language. Later, my mom went to study to United States for two years and took me with her.

When I lived in the US, in Georgia, in our neighborhood, a lot of people from all over the world also lived there:a Chinese boy, Andy, a Guatemalan girl, Samantha, two Russians, me and a Jewish Russian, Eugene, my Mongolian friend Noma, two brothers from India, Harpol and Manu and two black American kids, Joe and Naya.We all lived together and we all were friends. We divided not by nationality or religion. We divided by boys and girls. All the girls liked the same things. We wanted to look cute, talk about school and boys, and we liked to have sleepovers at a friend’s place on the weekends.All the boys wanted to play sports and win.Even our parents didn’t differ much from each other.Our mothers wanted us to study and behave well. They wanted neat and clean apartments, they wanted our dads to be home early, and they liked to shop from time to time.Our dads tried to have a good job, bring money to their families, and they also wished us to study well.Yes, we all went to different churches, but does it really matter?

I am thinking now, what was the difference between all of us: Russians, Chinese, African-American, Mongolian, Indian, Spanish, Jewish and Americans?Maybe the food I suppose. When we first moved to that apartment complex, we had an international Food Party where every family had to bring a national dish and introduce the food and the country it was from.That was a great fun!We were running between tables while our parents were trying food and making new friends.I think that was a great idea to help people to let to know each other.

When my family had to leave the US, I left all my friends there. Now, all those countries have faces for me, the faces of my friends. When I hear about India, I remember the two brothers,Harpol and Monu; when I read about Mongolia, I remember Noma’s smile; and when I see something about China on TV, I remember how Andy and I played chess together. Now I think how can I not like a nation if it is my friend’s nation? I think people may finish hating each other if they personally know friends from that country. I don’t even want to think that when we grow up we might be ‘enemies’.

WHY WOULD THAT HAPPEN?And how can we solve this problem? How can nationalities be cross with each other, but their kids can get along with each other well?The way to stop hating each other and live in peace is to let people to know each other better. We should create more organizations that would unite people from different countries to work and live together. Organizations like that would have foreigners work together with local people. They would have holidays and birthdays, they will share their good and bad days. That way, in time, a certain amount of people would forget all their bad thoughts to each other, and would see that there really is no difference between them.

…Now, in the long Russian winter, when all is in snow for months, I come from school, open the internet and read e-mails from my friends from all over the world: some of them are still in the US, some went back to their home countries.