Divided, we fall.
At The Arcade Hotel, we host an average of 100 people per night from all over the world. On top of that our staff is a potpourri of 8 different cultures. The daily communication is sometimes bound to get exhausting in such a melting pot of diversity. But more so: exciting.
Exciting, because once you swallow down your pride of “knowing it all” and truly listen to your counterpart, you are rewarded with a valuable and new perspective every time. Meeting people from all over the world on a daily basis gives you the privilege of catching a glimpse at the world through their eyes. And it will always leave you richer than before.
And this is not referring to the eye-opening experience after encountering an exotic culture that makes your former worldview shrink to the size of a breadcrumb. A Dutch and a German, a Greek and an Italian, a Spanish and Portuguese — we tend to forget how close we are and yet how different. And what a privilege that is.
So far so obvious, right? After all, we live in a time where the vast majority of the population can catch a flight to destinations our grandparents did not even know existed. Not to mention the absurd fact that nowadays we can hang out anywhere in Europe on the weekend. You would think we have grown a mind so open you could easily park the Death Star in it. Yet these days we seem to be moving more towards separation than unity. We hang on to borders drawn between us like Gollum, eager to protect our Precioussssss when instead we should be celebrating each other’s quirkiness. Sure, our differences can be annoying, because they dare us to leave our comfort zone, but boy can that be enlightening and empowering!
Imagine Luke would never have partnered up with Han, or both of them would not have joined the Rebellion? And what would have one of the Avengers been able to achieve against Thanos on her own?
You get the point. And it’s an old one. And it’s an obvious one. But we keep forgetting it: United we stand, divided we fall. Many have said, written and sung it in the past. Now, more then ever is the time to remind ourselves: We are all in this together. And that is beautiful. And it calls for a celebration. And we can start doing that by voting and showing our love for our Union. Let every voice be heard!
