Why do you think it’s important to learn about other cultures?

We all know that the cultural differences shape the variety of the world, which make our world become more colorful. We all agree that the more openly you keep your mind, the more easily you weather the storm. However, people are still judging others from own perspectives, and culture misunderstandings and conflicts never disappear. As a results, there exists an array of reasons accounting for the importance of learning about other culture.

One of advantages learning about other cultures is building up empathy. What the way build up empathy is putting yourself into other’s shoes. It might has a similar experience with me. When I went to a restaurant in American first time, I didn’t know that bills didn’t include tips. After I finished the meal, I asked the waiter to give my change back, and the waiter throw the coins on a table. I felt uncomfortable at that moment, but I realized that he was furious about the tip. Because of culture difference, I wouldn’t judge that the waiter was a rude person, oppositely; I blamed myself for not tipping.

Trying to understand other cultures is an effective solution to reducing discrimination, hatred, and conflict and it lead our world and society to become peaceful. Many bias, stereotypes originate from things we don’t really understand. Because of ignorance, and lack of tolerance, those elements are breeding misunderstanding, discrimination and conflict. It has been existed between the Muslin world and Christian world. After 911, it deepen the stereotype which Muslin is terrorist. Some Muslin was shot by police accidentally. Some religious extremists randomly shot students in campus. Those tragedies can be prevented, and all people need to do is spending time on understanding each other.

Although people today can access information about distinctive culture easily, culture misunderstandings and conflicts never disappear because of bias, stereotypes. It’s necessary to keep learning about other cultures.