Coexisting as Plurality Increases
December 31, 2019 ​by Raimy Khalife-Hamdan

Recently, in Monsey, New York, there was another heartbreaking anti-Semetic act against Hasidic Jews. For most of us, when we read about these horrible incidents, these events shock us, tear at our hearts, and force tears into our eyes. And yet, it is important to note that these incidents accumulate in our past, adding onto a history of pain, violence, and intolerance that our nation continues to suffer.
        Religious intolerance is one of the main challenges our country needs to combat. Over the past few years, religious intolerance seems to have increased in the most ugly of ways: acts in private and public settings occur against those that appear different.
         Our ideal America accepts her entire self: in her plurality, in the patchwork that makes her up -- she is the manifestation of the world’s difference, for there are so much plurality that makes her up. Our nation needs to rise and truly accept that it is not homogeneous, and declare the positivity of this fact. We say, in our everyday lives, that “hate is ugly” and that “hatred never wins”... so now, why do we suffer from acts of hatred without any enormous interference? We suffer, and are the victim, to the consequence of hatred, fear, and ignorance.
    Whether it be a government-led intervention to instill pacifist acceptance, or a social media movement to applauding diversity, or simply an increase in acts of obvious kindness towards strangers, something needs to happen. Something needs to happen to prove to our country that America is compassionate, loving, and brimming with future. For there is no future in hatred: hatred consumes and destroys itself.
    La Convivencia’s core motive is to promote peace among all human beings. This can be achieved through connection with those that are different to ourselves. La Convivencia offers opportunities to our  local community to participate in community-oriented activities, such as service and dialogue. In our connection with the “other”, we see ourselves more clearly. In fact, by addressing plurality, we address the multifaceted dimensions of human nature. Accepting the other, we accept ourselves, because our core nature as a human being is plural and contradictory. 

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