With 330 million people, the world is filled with people of many different backgrounds and stories. It’s everyone’s job to come together. 

The world has been and is currently in a time of many heritage celebration months. April is Arab-American and Scottish-American Heritage Month. This means April is a time to emphasize those communities by dedicating focus to honoring the importance of their heritage. It is a time set aside to educate and recognize ethnicities or marginalized communities. One can participate in Arab-American or Scottish-American Heritage Month by listening to what members of that community have to say, appreciating the culture, and attending events held by their communities, and then apply that to each heritage month. People are encouraged to bring awareness, as well as recognize and preserve other cultures and practices within the world. 

While focusing on groups that one may not be familiar with, these months are filled with stress on the need to educate oneself about the importance of each community.Posts online, such as infographics, articles and blogs, help draw attention to these groups. 

An Appalachian State University blog post explained why they think celebrating where one comes from is important. 

“As human beings, we are revealed and make ourselves known to one another by infinite varieties of intelligence, language, race, values, politics, religion, national service, gender presentation, philosophy and a host of other elements common to humankind. The recognition of a common humanity is the first step in the celebration of our differences – differences that inform our cultures, our values, our minds, and all our ways of being in the world.”

Recognizing and celebrating one’s own background gives people a look into the world that they might not see every day. Vicki Hoffman, a world language teacher at Xavier, knows the importance of celebrating cultures and finds time to celebrate her own. 

“It’s important to understand our own histories. In our own histories, we have unique celebrations and different struggles, but in the end, we come to realize that there are things we all have in common,” Hoffman said. “Every year my family goes to Walk On Iowa, and we have a float in the St. Patrick’s Parade. I have always    celebrated the Mexican heritage with my daughter when she was growing up as well.”

The celebration of backgrounds and heritages around the world each year continues to be times full of education, understanding and unity. To see the official list and descriptions of each observance, visit https://www.loc.gov/law/help/commemorative-observations/index.php.