Top Five Ways to Become a Better Person who Accepts Others who are Different

Have you ever thought about how you can take simple actions to learn more about people that are different than you? Below are five simple things you can do to help you understand someone who is diverse. Sometimes it takes getting out of your comfort zone, but you just might have one of those "a-ha" moments. Try these things and see if you look at the world a little differently afterwards...

1. Spend a day in someone else's shoes...attend an all-black church, go to a gay club, sleep outside in a cardboard box. Put yourself in a situation where you are the only one of your kind. Take note of the feeling you get when you are there...uncomfortable, isn't it? Remember that these individuals feel this way EVERY DAY when they are the only ones of their kind in the workplace, social group, neighborhood. Once you get a feel for what it is like, perhaps you will understand what it is like to be a "minority" a bit better.

2. Spend time with someone who is different than you (age, race, gender, national origin, religion, mental or physical ability, sexual orientation, socio-economic status). Have a meaningful conversation about the things that make you different, but also of the things that make you similar. It can be very difficult to discuss these things, but if done in a respectful way, many people are very willing to talk to you to help you understand how they see the world.

3. Act as a mentor to someone who holds a lower level in society than you do. Find out about the barriers they have to achieving their goals. Is it education? Is it how they were socialized throughout their lives? Learn about the concept of "cumulative disadvantage" and realize that sometimes achieving lower levels in society is not as simple as the person being less ambitious than the next.

4. Put a slide show together of pictures of people of different races, genders, ethnicities, etc. and show it to children above the age of 5. Ask them to tell you what type of person each is. Record the responses. Then show this slide show to children under the age of 5. Record the responses. How do they differ? Why do you think they differ? Could it be that adults have passed on their biases to their children? Understand that people are not born with biases...they acquire them over time from others.

5. Go to a new ethnic restaurant every month in different neighborhoods within your community. Go to neighborhoods you typically would not go into. Eat at restaurants you never knew existed. Try different cuisines (soul food, Pakistani, Middle Eastern, etc.). Follow this experience up with learning about the cultures of each group represented.