Eboo Patel travels the country speaking at a variety of events on interfaith cooperation. He preaches that the demand for interfaith leaders is at its all time high today and for America to withhold its tradition of accepting people of all religions and denominations. Distinguishing Islamic and Christian theologies, Patel highlighted that God made diversity holy and that we need to follow the ethnically superior way of other cultures.

Despite it being the main focus of his argument, I admire Patel’s courage to speak in front of audiences with diverse backgrounds and traditions. As a twenty-first century college student living in a predominantly self-centered, ignorant, litigious, hypocritical, and individualistic American society, I was inspired to reflect on my personal relationships with people I know that are now spread out around the world. My upbringing of being raised in China enabled me to connect with people of different nationalities, race, cultures, traditions, and religions. Now that I am in college, I am able to see that the relationships I built forms a paradox: We suppressed those factors and at the same time brought some of them to the surface as well. This goes into what Patel spoke on, that interfaith leaders bring people together and lift up people in their values. Young adults that shared my story tend to disregard divisional factors but concurrently bring to light those values and traits that make someone shine and stand out.

In my unending journey to becoming a better leader, I believe it is important to acquire knowledge from other cultures and religions. Patel said it well; we should take the initiative to find something absolutely beautiful about another faith, something that we want to preserve. That is how we will progress in our journey to becoming interfaith leaders, especially in today’s society where hatred and shame is dumped into the news, social media, and inevitability, our minds. We reflect the world we live in today, and it is our goal as virtuous leaders in the making that we restore the American archetype, the American tradition, and the American dream.