Emily Ham

Perspectives Editor

I will not lie to you.
At the beginning of this week, I had nothing to write about for this page.
Spring break was approaching, and my mind was beginning to close down shop for the week in preparation for a weeklong rest.
But every now and then, some small happening will set my mind into action, and I will wind up contemplating the human condition.
However, this time it was no “small happening” that provoked my thoughts on life.
It was the death of a fellow student, a significant and emotional incident, that made me start thinking.
At the memorial service held to honor the memory of Binod Dumre Wednesday afternoon, I watched the love and respect that was put into the service, accepted the blessings offered during the ceremony and listened to the traditional Hindu prayers being said so that Dumre’s soul might rest in peace and that all the students at Troy University would remain safe and happy.
It was then that a thought that I have mulled over many times stuck me in such a significant way that I knew what I wanted to say in today’s opinion piece.
No matter how different we think we are or appear to be, no difference should be big enough to divide people from one another because the basic state of a person does not change due to location.
Although it may sound like a cliché, it still holds true that love, friendship, grief and hope are just a few things everyone has had in common.
Cultural differences aren’t meant to intimidate or separate people from one another.
Rather, they are meant to teach you about parts of the world you may never get to see, and to help shape you into a knowledgeable, open-minded, understanding, human being.
If we would only take the time to communicate with people who have experienced different lifestyles and experiences, we would learn a lot about the world we live in and also, learn something about ourselves.
I was a witness to this, Wednesday.
Even though some people present at the service, myself included, were unfamiliar with the ceremony’s steps, the Nepalese community welcomed our participation graciously and offered explanations as to what the different blessings meant.
If only everyone at this college would welcome those from different backgrounds so easily and with such refinement.
It is true that people tend to gravitate towards those they feel are just like themselves.
But it doesn’t matter how different your life has been from someone else’s, does it?
The race of humanity is something we all have in common.
So, depending on how you look at it, technically, there should be no unrest or upheaval due to a person’s race or origin, because in the end, we are all the same on the most basic level.
We are all linked through life, itself.
Just being is something we all have in common.
We are all here for the purpose of helping our fellow man, not limiting ourselves to just helping our fellow (insert nationality here.)
Troy students have, indeed, been helping their fellow man for the past couple of weeks since the tornado tore through Enterprise.
However, please be reminded that fellow students from Nepal and Uzbekistan have experienced a great tragedy as well.
Medical expenses have been piling up since last weekend, and that is a large financial weight for a student to bear.
But just imagine yourself in a foreign country.
If something such as the wrecks from last weekend would have happened to you while you were away from home and the friends and family you grew up with, would you be able to afford to pay for the expenses incurred?
Probably not.
Nine people were affected physically by these accidents, and they all need our help to bring a bit of normalcy to their lives.
Please, look within your hearts and if there is any way you can help these students on the road to recovery and out of financial trouble, please do.