Don't get lost in the melting pot

Diversity is something that makes our country so great. Everyone comes from different backgrounds that give them different experiences which make them different people. But when diversity isn't encouraged as it should be, people forget how important it is to embrace their differences and in turn forget they are different.

I am Puerto Rican, and you would never know. Although I never purposely tried to hide my family's culture, it ended up hazy and to the sideline of my "about me". I wasn't ashamed of my heritage, I just never embraced it as I should have because I was too busy fitting in. It wasn't un-cool, it just wasn't cool either. Because I couldn't fit it into my "cool/un-cool" category list, I almost let myself forget about it.

This video was such a necessarily refreshing reminder of how proud I am of my family's culture:

The Hispanic culture is sometimes thought down upon by society because of the associations made with poverty and violence. But to me, it is one of the richest and most diverse cultures. No two countries, no two indigenous regions, no two islands are the same. But what Hispanics do share is a certain pride for their roots that is unique to them. In spite of the struggles faced by their ancestors and the poverty many of their countries face today, these people are fighting to preserve their culture.