Yo, bro, you're not like me, but that's cool!

Antoine de Saint Exupéry wrote: “If you differ from me, my brother, far from hurting me, you bring me lots of things”.

Isn’t it rather difficult to talk about difference being a source of enrichment, when differences, of race, religion, or culture, are often sources of conflict, massacre and genocide?

Of course, it is different in “civilized countries”, is it not? Differences there aren’t sources of war, sure, but they remain sources of distrust!

You have heard of prejudice haven’t you? You can undoubtedly give me examples of prejudice.

Don’t you think that we have the duty to resist, not to be manipulated?

Artists, writers, people, have decided to fight actively against prejudice, just like Antoine de Saint Exupéry. He decided to fight for humanity, not against it, to defend liberty, equality, respect. This fight for humanity cannot be achieved without commitment and forgiveness. The European Union is certainly a legitimate example of this. Who, in 1945 could have imagined that Germany and France, former enemies, would become allies, pillars indeed of European reconstruction? The European Union was made possible thanks to the will of the people to forgive each other, as much as to the economic, political and cultural context of each country at the time. We, today, are the product of this enrichment through diversity!

The Antoine de Saint Exupéry quote is also about identity. Differences are obviously the guarantee of our development. To build with others, not only offers us a different point of view on the world but also on ourselves.

However, we cannot just talk about diversity; we have to intensely live this diversity! To find the real meaning of this diversity!

Yes, there is human enrichment, which is not just economic. Slavery is a deplorable example of enrichment, but things have changed, have they not? Well, no! We are, today, witnesses or accomplices of modern slavery. Every day, we use objects created by kids in Asia, Africa, and even in Paris.

Act up! And as the former resistance fighter Stéphane Hessel said: “become indignant!” i.e. get mad, and refuse intolerance.

Our conduct is "right" if it treats others as ends in themselves and not as means to an end, as Kant wrote. Let’s build together tomorrow's world, a world more just and fair!

This is an extract of a speech given by Lidwine S. for the Lyon's Club 2011 public speaking competition.