WHENEVER I ATTEND a culturally-focused community event, like the recent Cinco de Mayo celebration in Faribault, I feel joy. Joy because I’m learning, meeting my neighbors, growing my appreciation for the cultural diversity which defines Faribault and neighboring communities.
The week prior, I attended an event celebrating our Somali population. There, too, I engaged with my new neighbors and learned more about them. I’ve always found gatherings that involve food and music to be a good way to connect. Both are universal, even if different.
Even when I don’t understand lyrics, I understand the rhythm of music.
Even when I haven’t tasted an ethnic food, I’m willing to try. And let me tell you, Somali tea tastes of ginger and cinnamon and other spices that appeal both to my sense of taste and of smell. Likewise, sambusa, which I was introduced to many years back, are delicious. I love the savory, spicy flavor of these meat-filled triangular pastries.
Latino food is a bit more familiar. But, because I don’t speak or read Spanish, I struggle with choices. I asked for help interpreting and translating, choosing a dish that featured shrimp. I love shrimp. Still, I didn’t realize I had just ordered soup laced with shrimp and corn. It was not my favorite. But, hey, at least I tried something new.
That’s the thing. We have to be willing to step outside our familiar foods, music, language and more. Then, and only then, do we begin to feel connected in our community. We are no longer “them” and “us.” Rather, we are all one, living together in this place. It takes effort. It takes a willingness to stretch ourselves, to strike up conversations, to appreciate both differences and similarities.
It is the kids who give me the most hope. Kids are kids. When I see kids running, playing, dancing, singing, I see any kid. Not white, black, brown… Simply a kid.
Watching a cluster of kids gathered on Cinco de Mayo to strike a pinata, I saw smiles, focus, determination, joy. They each had a singular goal: to get to the candy. They worked together. One kid took a swing, then another and another and another until it was time to pass the stick to the next kid. It took teamwork—a community of kids—to achieve the end goal. And when they scrambled for the falling candy, it was happy chaos. They’d done it. Together.
We adults can learn a lot from the little ones. We are all in this world together. We live. We love. We struggle. We celebrate. We have hopes and dreams. More connects, than divides, us. That is what we need to remember no matter our backgrounds, our language, our food, our music…
© Copyright 2024 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
What a fine example you are at embracing diversity and community. Thank you for that.
I try. I know you embrace diversity also.
What a wonderful post Audrey! It filled me with so much joy and hope! 💕
Thank you, Rose. Hope and joy are good emotions. I know you feel strongly on the topic of embracing cultural diversity also.
wonderful post. you are so very right, that the lesson is to learn about each other, we all have something wonderful to offer, we just have to take the time to understand and get to know them. I think that most prejudice comes from a place of fear, not understanding, and worrying that people or traditions that are different, as possibly taking something from us, when instead, it is quite the oppposite. we all have something to give to each other. the children always naturally ‘get it’ unless the adults intervene, to them, children are children, and I wish that adults understood people in the same way.
You are so right, Beth. If only adults could view people in the same way as children. Without prejudice. Without differences that divide.