invisible links, 2023, Ali Özgün Akyüz, photography series
When we think about the cultural diversity and complexity that forms with the help of living together in a community, we realize how different ideas everyone has about each other’s interests, what we want to contribute to the community and how we want to live our lives. Each of us contribute to society with our unique personalities, talents, lifestyles, and experiences. The community’s diversity enriches the society and provides opportunities that we all touch each other’s lives in some ways even if we are not aware of it. The most beneficial advantage of living together in community is the ability to help each other when we are going through hard times. Those who come to help us are the people we live in the same society. Our differences give each of us different perspectives and talents while making the society stronger. Various cultures, lifestyles, and perspectives on the world, shape our society. Additionally, the unique experiences and knowledge of each individual increases the knowledge and enhance cultural heritage of the society. Our personal development is also an important part of improving society but while we focus on our personal development, we should not forget that we should also think about the people we live in the same society. While we are developing ourselves, we should develop each other also instead of harming them and making their lives difficult. The development of individual’s leads to the development of society. So, if everyone supports each other’s development, the society develops with us.
Trying to live without the differences causes to fail to improve our society. The most important thing we will leave to future generations is our cultural heritage, and our cultural heritage is nourished by the diversity and richness of our society. As a society, instead of criticizing our differences, we should embrace them and respect each other. When we, as a society, accept each other’s differences and respect these differences, we can leave a richer cultural legacy as a stronger society. Each one of us have responsibility to understand the impact of our differences on our society. We should see our differences as factors that make us valuable not as the factors that puts us in the background.
“We can build fairer, healthier and happier society by supporting each other’s differences, not by trying to eliminate or ignore them.”