In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “West End Girls.”
Every city and town contain people of different classes: rich, poor, and somewhere in between. What’s it like where you live? If it’s difficult for you to discern and describe the different types of classes in your locale, describe what it was like where you grew up — was it swimming pools and movie stars, industrial and working class, somewhere in between or something completely different?
I grew up in a large city, and went to college in a small college town. While in the military, I lived in a large and medium city in Germany along with several small towns. When I returned to the US, I lived in the suburbs of Washington DC and currently occupy space in a small city in Southwest Florida.
All of the locations I have lived share many cultural, social and class similarities. The only two cities displaying a true mixture of diversity and similarities were Frankfurt GE and the suburbs of Washington DC.
The cultural diversity in the suburbs of Washington DC was visually astonishing, providing my family and I the opportunity to interact with people and cultures from literally every portion of the planet. Cultural diversity became a beautiful intellectual learning experience.
For the smaller communities I lived in, they displayed cautious skepticism and interested curiosity. However, It was polite introductions and discussions, allowing an exchange of cultural knowledge to break down the barriers of mistrust, based on misinformation.
Every location I have lived shares the classic and universal category titles that separate the rich and poor. This title has been a part of humanities past and hopefully diminishes into future.
Humanity is learning to verbally interact allowing a cultural exchange and blossoming of knowledge, which I believe are the building blocks for tolerance, understanding and a community of diversity.