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Justin Nam AAS 115 Professor Wong 23 October 2013

Finding similarities in diversity The Olympics is considered the greatest form of competition. Countries from all over the world come together to compete, setting aside their differences and form a bond. The Olympic is a universal platform, where individuals compete against one another. By competing, athletes are able to break the language barrier by letting their actions speak for them. Seedfolks, a children novel written by Paul Fleischman, revolves around a garden that closely resembles the Olympics. Seedfolks sets in a vacant lot that was filled with garbage, and through the simple act of planting lima bean seeds, a young girl was able to create a ripple effect that led to the creation of a beautiful garden. Each chapter of Seedfolks introduces a new character and his or her vantage point. Throughout the book, the characters lives are intertwined and how the actions of each characters affects those around him or her. Just how the Olympics brings together countries, the garden brought together all the characters in Seedfolks, forming a sense of unity. While the garden was in the beginning stage, the differences between the characters caused them to be arrogant and selfish, but as the story progress and as the garden grows, the characters were able to work around the language barrier through a shared interest. Through shared experiences individuals are able to overcome cultural and linguistic differences by performing selfless deeds, disposing stereotypical beliefs, and letting their action speak for them. I agree that individuals can overcome linguistic and cultural differences by sharing the same experiences and struggles together.

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A simple act of kindness can go a long way, but in todays society, only a small portion of the population tends to do selfless acts. One of the possible reason in that there are no common interest between people, but what if there were common interests between individuals. By being able to relate to another individual, it opens up new feeling, and the willingness to be kind and help that certain individual. Everyone in Seedfolks shared the same problem of getting water to the garden. Then at one point all the characters gathered to battle this ordeal, eventually finding a solution, then little black girl say to let rain from sprouts go into garbage caneveryone clap. Other people give money to buy garbage cans. Next day, thunderstorms. Cans almost fullSomeone bring three old pots to scoop waterHard to pour into narrow containers. I quick go to store. Buy three funnels to make much easierThat day I see man use my funnel. Then woman. Then many people. Feel very glad inside. Feel part of garden. Almost like family (Saeyoung pg 49-50). The gardens was a great foundation for individual to perform selfless deeds for each other. Everyone in the garden understood the struggle to get water to the garden, they shared the hardship of walking multiple blocks to bring a few gallons water. The characters were able to relate to one another, eventually working together to overcome this obstacle. The characters that donated the pot and funnels didnt want recognition, but were content that they were able to contribute to the garden in their own way. Stereotypical beliefs will always be around, and people are considered ignorant if they believe that a certain race does this or that based on the stereotypes theyve heard about that certain race. When a common interest is around, characters are able to converse and learn new things about the person they had the misconception of. By having a shared interest, individuals have an excuse to randomly start a conversation with each other, and as they continue to converse, they learn new things about one another. Amir hold a stereotypical belief that Poles act

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a certain way or always eat cabbage, even though he has never met a Polish person. In the garden he meets a Polish women and holds a conversation with her. Amir learns about her life and says I heard her words, I realized how useless was all that Id heard about Poles, how much richness it hidI still do not know or care, whether she cooks cabbage. After holding a conversation with an actual Polish women, Amir realized his ignorance and change is view point on people. It is important for the world to realize that having a simple conversation can change a persons entire viewpoint. If individuals are able to find an excuse to break their comfort barrier and start a conversation, many stereotypical beliefs would vanish. Even if dont talk to anyone, sound of people working almost like converstaion (Saeyoung pg 48). There is a clich that say Action speak louder than words, although in many cases this phrase tends not to be logical, but in Seedfolks it makes perfect sense. There is a language barrier that hindered the garden, but through the actions of individual, the garden was a place of serenity. Because of the characters same interest in building a garden, individuals were able to communicate with each other through the actions. how very strange it was to watch people who woul hace crossed the street if theyd seen him coming a few weeks, now giving him vegetablesHe watered for people who were sick and fixed fences and made other repairhe was trusted and likedhe was not a black teenager boy. He was Royce. Royce was a teenager that was viewed as a threat until the people got to know him. Through his action of wanting to make the garden into a more beautiful place, he was able to win people over. They shared the same interest of preserving the beauty of the garden. It is important for individuals to overlook the differences in others, but more that to happen, individuals need to find a shared interest or share subjective experiences together. Humans tend to be more open towards each other if they have common interest. As seen in

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Seedfolks, a small act can go a long way. Individuals can overcome any differences if they just find a strong foundation that allows individuals to grow together. I firmly believe that humans can be more understanding if they a random act like starting a conversation. Starting a simple conversation can go a long way that can possibly be life-changing.

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Fleischman, Paul, and Judy Pedersen. Seedfolks. New York: HarperCollins, 1997. N. pag. Print.