What defines a person? What makes them different from everyone else? What makes them unique?

According to the standardized tests we take in high school, we are defined simply by our age, race and gender. Although these factors do aid in defining us and contributing to the diversity of life, they are not the only aspects that make us different from one another.

Walking down the various halls at Lincoln, a large range of people can be seen strolling past: the cheerleader, the artist, the prep and the band player. We all know these different cliques.

We group the diverse population at Lincoln into categories according to who they hang out with and what extra-curricular activities they are involved in, but even then are we are still trying to define the individual.

Diversity can be anything and everything that influences an individual: where they were born, their language, their parents, their friends, their financial situation and their interests. Anything that could help identify the person contributes to their diversity.

We have been always taught that diversity is only different ethnic groups. However, saying that there are 1,168 whites, 625 blacks and 173 other ethnic groups does not even begin to define the diverse group of students of Lincoln High School.

Can anyone really fit into a group perfectly or are there really no groups at all? Is everyone a single group themselves? The result of such a drastic idea would be that people could not be percentages, because they each would be their own clique.

The world contains so many variables that allow it to remain interesting. Not being able to be exactly the same as anyone else makes life reality, instead of some nonexistent utopia where everyone is the same, right down to the last wrinkle.

Take for example a female band member, who is Asian, plays soccer, and is in many clubs. How should she be grouped: by race, her band uniform or perhaps even her sport? Can she or anyone else for that matter, easily be put into any category and through that be accurately represented in the diversity of her school or town?

Who decides what makes people different? Why is it that people’s diversity is set in stone and classified only by portions of who they really are?

The truth of the matter is a person’s diversity is not something that can be labeled in one paragraph, let alone one word. What makes everyone different is enough to fill the pages of a book. Although the labels provided by ourselves and society will always exist, it would be wiser to use them as guidelines written in pencil, rather than official memos written in permanent ink (stone?).

Diversity is a sensitive and debatable subject, but without it Lincoln, Tallahassee, America and even the world would be a completely desolate place.