How can the youth contribute towards strengthening togetherness in a multicultural society?

This is such an important question.  I think that young people need to talk less about tolerance and more about acceptance, that they need to focus more on how people are alike than on how they are different, and that they need to be genuinely interested in the various cultures of those around them. 

As I listen to the discussions swirling around me about multiculturalism, I hear a great deal of discussion of tolerance.  That seems foolish to me.  It implies we are merely putting up with something, which is hardly the road to togetherness.  We should not be putting up with people because they are different from us. We should be accepting them and accepting multiculturalism in general. I don't understand the value in not accepting people who are different from me. They are people, and each must be judged on his or her own merits, not on the basis of difference.  If our youth would abandon this notion of tolerance and start working on acceptance, that would be a very good start. 

Social and professional relationships and communities are built upon commonalities. When we look for ways we are like another person, we can get along with pretty much anyone. When we have an ice-breaking activity in my classes on the first day, I am looking for commonalities, between myself and each student and amongst all the students, so we can have common ground as our foundation for learning. A classroom is a community of learners. Similarly, in the workplace, when a new person comes on board, no matter how that person is different from everyone else, there is something he or she will have in common with others, perhaps similar schooling, perhaps something as superficial as tastes in food or dress. There is always something that we can find in common with others, although it does not mean we should disregard differences. Young people should be working on this. 

We should be interested in differences in others, to learn about another religion, another country, another tradition.  If the interest is genuine, questions will be welcomed, not perceived as rude.  I had a student once who was married in India, and we begged her to bring her wedding photos to class. None of us had ever been fortunate enough to attend an Indian wedding, but we learned so much about the rituals and the beauty of them this way.  If all young people are sincerely interested in learning about others, that is a means of drawing closer together, too.

Perhaps I live in a bit of a bubble, but it does seem to me that the up and coming generation is making a greater contribution to a world of togetherness than previous generations have done. I see young people daily, and for the most part, they all get along very well, at least in the classroom.  I try to urge them to accept, rather than tolerate, to look for common ground, and to be interested in the people around them.