A Lecturer and Counselor at UCC’s Counselling Centre, Dr. Gloria Owusu-Ambrose says accepting the cultural backgrounds of those we come into contact with helps to build healthier relationships.
She notes that doing this helps to build peaceful cordial relationships among people from different backgrounds which can help facilitate development at any place where such relationships abound.
To her “we must learn to accept people, and then we must learn from others…so the best thing or practices as seen among your people could be learned by others, and then what is also seen to be best practices among them could also be learned by you. The world is evolving, the world is getting to where it is heading because of cultural diffusion.”
Dr. Gloria Owusu-Ambrose was speaking exclusively to ATLFMNEWS in commemoration of the International Friendship Day on July 30.
She believes that though social media friendship and conversations have become the order of the day, the traditional friendship system should not be shelved as it helps deepen friendships.
“It is not a bad thing it also has a role to play but that should not completely replace our traditional friendship system. We don’t necessarily have to get disconnected from people on social media but we should as well keep our traditional friendship system…it would be good that we sit down to remember the good things when we come into contact with people physically, we impact their lives in any way possible. I think it will be a better approach.”
Background
International Friendship Day is celebrated annually on July 30 and it was first proposed in the year 1958 by World Friendship Crusade, an international civil organization.
Since then, the day has been celebrated every year around the globe to strengthen the bonds and connections between people from different countries.
Living in miscommunications, mistreatment, discrimination, and cultural discord in the global society, the theme for the year’s celebration is bridging the gaps between factors such as race, language and culture.
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Source: Richard Osei Korankye/ATLFMNEWS