my seedfolks (immigration) essay

Beyond the beans of humanity Rayna Morin October 14, 2025 The book seed folks begins to understand differences by getting to know each other. The main topic of seed folks is the differences between everyone and their experiences. The importance of acceptance and shared humanity is that you will not under any circumstance understand others' differences without acknowledging others for who they are. Wonderful things can happen by accepting others and becoming a virtuous person. It is important to accept different people because we can learn from them. We can learn their culture, language, traditions, and each other's differences. This is why people's differences are important. Although the author paints a picture of blending a community's differences, accepting how the community changes and grows is cultivating to others including myself. Learning their traditions is a way of understanding others' differences. We can go up to them and talk to them and ask them about things they do differently than us Americans. Learning and understanding their religion is another way because it will help us know what to respect and understand. Learning their language would be helpful to communicate with them because they may not understand English. Learning their culture will help us understand their customs, beliefs and ways of life. I personally try to encourage learning about other differences because of these reasons. We can accept differences by identifying where in our life we need acceptance. The second step is to explore obstacles. Once you have explored obstacles, you could play out the hypothetical of what gaining acceptance around your community would look like. The last step is to give yourself grace. Give yourself grace by validating your emotions. It is important to learn how to accept while also living a life that's true to yourself. I encourage you to use the above steps to begin exploring what that co-existence may look like (Squillace, n.d.). A community can become one with humanity by expanding empathy. A community can start by looking beyond its own border. Hearing about another person's experiences builds bridges of understanding and reveals our shared humanity. “One key aspect of shared humanity is that we need to connect with others. And by connecting I mean more than just talking to others or having a certain number of social connections.”(Marques, n.d). These are ways humanity can come together and support everyone within the community. The garden allowed people from many different cultures to work together and share their traditions, which helped them move past their initial fears and misunderstandings (Fleischman, 1997). The story shows that by making a personal effort to be more empathetic, a community can create shared experiences that unite people and remind everyone of their shared humanity. I thought this book was pretty interesting. There's a lot of different people in this book and different stories. It was fun to learn all about gardening especially because I'm in gardening class. This is why acceptance and shared humanity is the key to a successful community. The end. References Fleischman, P., & Pedersen, J. (1997). Seedfolks. HarperCollins. Marques, D. (n.d). Shared humanity: why it matters. happiness.com. Retrieved from https://www.happiness.com/magazine/inspiration-spirituality/shared-humanity-why-it-matters/ Squillace, B. (n.d.). Acceptance: The foundation to healing. Best Self Therapy. Retrieved from https://bestselftherapy.net/blog/acceptance-the-foundation-to-healing