When we are young we know we are right,
And everything is black or white.
No place for shades of grey to be
It’s clear for all the world to see
Quite simple, no complexity.
My family, well it knows best,
The things we do you may have guessed
Are different from all the throng.
As we are right they must be wrong
And if that’s so, they don’t belong.
We stay with those who look the same
Who sound like us, who share our name.
Whose culture, language, what we hear
Is everything we hold most dear.
And what is known will bring no fear.
But as we grow we start to find
That all we’ve thought about mankind
Is from a blinkered point of view
We see the need to look anew
For others’ ways are valid too.
So ‘different’ does not mean wrong.
It helps to know that we belong
To earth’s amazing tapestry
Of nations’ great variety
And people's rich diversity.
It’s not a case of wrong or right
And certainly no cause to fight.
Let’s celebrate the fact that we
Will often do things differently.
There is no need for enmity.
Bronwen Taylor