My grandfather always told me that being blind on the inside is a much greater handicap than being physically blind. As a child, I simply nodded my head to be polite; as time went by, his words simply became too repetitive for me to give them a second thought. Life is ironic in that it can make us realize the true meaning of such words through real experiences. I had always been under the notion that people of different races and cultures are quite different from one another, and through this way of thinking I had slowly developed a bias as to how I viewed people who were different from me even before I actually knew them. My recent immigration to the United States, however, has opened my eyes as to how similar people of all parts of the world are, and how the distinctiveness of each culture makes its people unique in style and but in character. I also realized that by learning about and from each other, we become better people as a whole.
             When I first arrived in the United States three years ago, my view towards people of other nationalities was narrow and limited. I had been raised in a country where everyone was similar to me. The multi-cultural presence in the United States was a big change in the environment for me. Through school and work I began to interact more with people of different nationalities. I made new friends with individuals who, like me, had traveled long distances in search of a better life in the United States. I began to realize how similar in so many ways people truly are, no matter where they come from or what language they speak. People from all walks of life want to improve the quality of life for themselves and more importantly for their families. Furthermore, no matter where people are from, most are willing to make great sacrifices for their families so that they can have a better future. Furthermore, I recognized the fact that people from all parts of the world consider their immediate families as the...