BY J. COOK
The year 2024 has possibly been the worst year for everyone so far. With world situations ranging from wars to presidential elections, something stands out among all these events. It’s the people. The culture
and identity of people. But what stands out about this? It’s basically what makes us all human,
right? We cannot not have culture or identity. We are all different in our own ways. How can we tell
if we are different? What makes us unique? Are we really made up of nationalities, age, gender,
sexuality or even religion? These are just some of the questions that I ponder in my mind and
how I even work as a human.
For culture, there are two very important meanings. The one that stands out is: “culture is the
idea, custom or social behaviour of any particular person or society”. We are all different and
unique in many possible ways. We have to be there for others. You’re thinking ‘Why?’ We are part of one collectively, but by respecting other cultures you are also bringing your cultures together. The UK on a whole has many cultures with different communities formed – by hearing about these, they make me happy that people from all places can come together in unity to give the love and support they need and to help one another, especially in dark times like this when you need to have HOPE.
So, as for identity, what is that? The proper definition for it is basically “a unique set of
characteristics that can be used to identify a person as themself and no-one else”. Recently, I went to a English and Creative writing open day at Cardiff Met University. One of the activities was to
tell others about yourself – and hearing all these diverse identities made me feel a emotion I’ve
never felt before. Identity, to me, can mean sexuality, religion, style etc. It is what’s unique to us.
It’s not easy in this day and age coming to terms with your own identity and culture. How easy it
is for people to make fun of you for your own uniqueness.
The next time they try to, say:
“Okay, so what!? I may be different and so are you, but at the end of the day we are both human,”
And see their response. Therefore, with that being said, don’t change your identity for someone else and don’t let anyone bring you down for your culture.
Be yourself. Be the best YOU can be.
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