Sense_of_Belonging

‘‘If you feel different from other in appearance, experience, or belief, then it is difficult to fit in’’. (A real sense of belonging is very closely linked to identifying with a particular group of people). The retrospective view of human history shows that it has always been a moving and mixing populace. For centuries, the intervention of cultures has grown reciprocally, and as a result people have now mixed cultures, but there are still many conflicts regarding identity and belonging. Wherever you go, there will always be a surrounding of many people with different cultures, ethnic backgrounds, or appearance. We live in a very diverse and multicultural world, but many people still feel like they don’t belong. Everyone belongs, whether you’re a different skin colour, you have a different ethnic background, or you look different in appearance to others. Being the only person in a workplace from a particular ethnic background, or looking different in appearance to your parents, doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t belong. However there are still many incidents where, being a different skin tone can lead you to rejection. Being the only person in a workplace from a particular ethnic background, doesn’t mean that you’re an alien from outer space, and you won’t fit in. In any workplace, there will always be a diversity of people with different ethnic backgrounds, and there will also be situations where you’re the only person from one particular ethnicity. Though this may be discouraging, and can make you self conscious of yourself, but we live in a multicultural society, and there are many people who accept you for the person you are, not of what ethnic background you’re from. In the text ‘A Sense of Belonging’ by Witi Ihimaera, Pari Wharepapa, a Maori girl, is considered as part of the ‘team’, because she was simply Pari to her workmates, not the Maori girl who works at the bank. Though there were times when customers treated her unjustly, but even then, the Head Office stood up for her and said, ‘No person is ever going to treat any of my girls as you have been and get away with it’. This shows that, having a different ethnicity to everyone around you doesn’t mean that you don’t belong, it just simply means you’re different. There are many adopted children who may feel like they don’t belong to their family, because they look totally different in appearance to the rest of the family. A family is always a family no matter what you look like, or what culture you come from, because when parents adopted a child, they are giving the child a place to belong to, their family. As the play ‘Stolen’ clearly shows, Anne is adopted by her adoptive parents, she was given everything she wanted and was well cared for, but most important of all, she felt that she belonged, that she was special, ‘They always said I was special because they chose me’. Though they are not her real parents, and she didn’t look anything like them, she never felt like she didn’t belong, because just being brought into the family meant that she belonged. There are many adopted children that don’t feel this way, but this shouldn’t be, because if your parents had chosen you to be their child, it means that you’ve been brought into the ‘family’, and a family is always one, meaning you belong, no matter what you look like. Racism has always been a major issue, and there have been many times, where being a different skin tone means you don’t belong. The world is very diverse in culture, religion, ethnicity and race. But even with such diversity, people with different skin tones, still find it difficult to fit in. This resides in people’s mentality, but this may also be a hereditary, inbuilt from the time we were born, thinking that ‘white’ people are more superior to ‘black’ people, and that ‘black’ people don’t belong. This is clearly shown the text ‘We Look After Our Own’ by Kath Walker. Mrs Edwards is an islander, living with her dying father. She couldn’t bear to watch him die so sent him to a religious nursing home, but was later rejected by the nursing home because of her dark skin, ‘Look dear, is your father lighter or darker than you'’ ...