26.03.2024. » 18:54
OP - ED Connecting Youth through Culture and Reading
Connection through art can happen in various ways. Art has the power to bring people together through ideas, shared experiences, culture, or understanding. This can occur through works expressing universal themes such as love, suffering, joy, or through the interaction of artists from different backgrounds and perspectives. Furthermore, art can serve as a foundation and platform for dialogue and expressing shared views, contributing to understanding and better connectivity among people.
Art and culture can be powerful tools in combating stereotypes and prejudices. Through artistic works that highlight complexity and depth, young people can overcome shallow prejudices and develop deeper understanding and respect for others. Art and culture have the power to bridge differences by expressing identity, promoting diversity, highlighting common experiences, and creating space for dialogue. By expressing their identity, people showcase their uniqueness through artistic works, music, literature, and film, depicting their identity, origins, language, traditions, and culture. Additionally, diversity is often promoted by presenting various perspectives, experiences, and stories of people from different ethnic groups, religions, and sexual orientations.
One of the bonds that connect people through culture and art is the emphasis on common themes of emotions and experiences, where others understand their life stories regardless of differences. Books often highlight different life stories and experiences of characters. Through reading, young people can develop empathy towards characters and better understand the world beyond their own experiences, contributing to better understanding of diversity and respect for others.
The environment we live in is rich in cultural differences caused by religious and ethnic diversity. This emphasizes the need to discuss important topics through culture, books, and writing, expressing opinions, and exploring new worlds. Through this universal language, geographical and cultural boundaries are transcended. Discussions on these topics provide an excellent opportunity for young people to express their views and opinions on identity, love, friendship, challenges of growing up in their environment, and other life issues. This process creates opportunities for discussing how thoughts, ideas, and feelings are expressed, thereby creating a basis for mutual connection. This mode of connection can have a significant impact on their emotional, intellectual, and social development, which can reflect on society and the environment at large.
Culture provides young people with a sense of identity, belonging, and heritage. Through art, folklore, music, film, literature, and other cultural expressions, young people can find common values that connect them with others. Through various events, festivals, workshops, discussions, young people can communicate, share their stories, and learn from others. This encourages creativity and innovation, and through artistic projects, music, painting, writing, and other activities, they can develop their talents, express themselves, and inspire others. Through cultural exchange, collaboration on artistic projects, participation in various cultural programs, young people can meet peers from other ethnic communities and build new friendships. Encouraging members of ethnic communities to write and share their stories can be a powerful way to connect and empower the community.
Through writing, people can share their perspectives on events and emotional experiences from their lives. This allows readers to better understand the life stories of people from different ethnic groups and develop empathy towards them. Writing on topics of ethnic diversity can promote tolerance, understanding, and respect among different groups. It also serves as a bridge between different cultures and communities, offering emotional support and enabling people to communicate in a deep and subtle manner through the exchange of ideas and stories, overcoming language barriers, and fostering imagination, creativity, and understanding of the world.
Slobodan Mašić, Writer
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