This Goldfish Would You Wish

The Positive Side In People's Differences

“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.”(Audre Lorde). This quote was written by an African American female writer who was a civil rights activist. It shows that variations are not the only factor that separates society, it is the lack of ability to know our differences. Accepting others who are different than yourself may lead to positive and negative factors. The growth of knowledge in the real world and the creation of good friendships are positive factors of why people should accept others who are different than themselves. However, the limitation of a culture in society can also be a negative reason of why others should

accept people who are different than themselves.
In the short story, “What of This Goldfish Would You Wish” by Etgar Keret, the main character does specific actions to show that people should accept others who are different from themselves because it will help in the growth of knowledge in the real world.

For example, the author says, “Yonatan could hardly imagine what people were dreaming of in the development towns and collective along the northern border, in the West Bank settlements and Arab villages, the immigrant absorption centers full of broken trailers and tired people left to broil out in the desert sun.”(2) Here, Yonatan, the main character, did not know much about how differently people view the world. After asking a couple of people of his neighborhood what they would wish for, most of them responded with “health, money, bigger apartments, either to shave off a couple of years or a couple of pounds” However, he asked others to answer the question and an old Holocaust survivor just wanted the Nazis to take accountability of what they did. This quote demonstrates that because Yonatan went and asked a variety of people about their wishes, his knowledge of others desires grew. Yonatan found out that because of the people's past experiences, those experiences would determine what they wanted to wish for. People say that when meeting someone, the person can be taught something new. When people are curious about others and ask the right questions, they can learn a lot of interesting things. A person will never know, they might get a spark of inspiration or a brilliant insight from someone when they least expect it. The creation of positive friendships is also a reason why people should accept others who are different than

themselves.
In Liliana Heker’s short story, “The Stolen Party”, the reader can infer that people should accept others that are different than themselves because it can lead to the creation of positive friendships. For example, Heker says, “Every afternoon she used to go to Luciana's house and they would both finish their homework while Rosaura's mother did the cleaning. They had their tea in the kitchen and they told each other secrets.”(1) In this short story, Rosaura is the mother of a servant that works in the house of Luciana. This quote implies that the daughter of the servant and the daughter of the boss do everything together assimilating that both of the girls have an innocent friendship. Although these two girls are aware that they stand in different social classes, both Luciana and Rosaura set their social classes aside to have a long lasting friendship. Rather than Luciana making fun of Rosaura, she accepts that Rosaura is in a differnet social class and shares secrets and tea, like friends would. When children come from a non-judgmental place, like Luciana’s house, they have more probability to be non-judgmental as well. This leads them having an open mind in how others think, thus, having long lasting friendships that can last a lifetime.
Although there are some positive effects on accepting others who are different than oneself, this is not true for some cases. Sometimes, when people do not accept others, it can cause limitations of a culture in society. For example, in the poem, “Without Title” by Diane Glancy, the author shows how a father’s culture is limited due to the fact that there are no more people like them around to share their cultures with. Glancy says, “No one sang his buffalo song.” Here, the author depicts that her father is a Native American who did not have people who were like him. The fact that no one went along with the buffalo song, shows the reader that he is alone and does not have people who he can share his experiences with. Furthermore, when people do not have someone around them that is their own race, they feel unwanted. Society tries so hard to have a “normal” and “wanting” place for everyone. However, society is always pushing things that are different away from them. An example of this is the fact that “dark skin [is] unappealing”. The color brown of the Mexican is just like the culture of the Native Americans. Society does not accept it because it does not go with their “ideals” or perfection. Although there are positive factors when people do accept others different than themselves, there are also negative factors when people do not accept those who are different than themselves.
It is clear that there are a variety of positive factors of why people accept others who are different than themselves. Factors such as the growth of knowledge in the real world and the creation of positive friendships are example of what happens when people do accept others who are different than themselves. However, a negative factor can be limitations of culture because people do not want to accept things that are different than theirs. If only everyone in society put their part in to accepting each other's differences, we would be able to reach a more unified community.