One reason is that it enables people to live together in peace and harmony. In the past, you may have heard of Racism. This sensitive issue makes us wonder why people must despise people of other races, even if the only difference is their skin colour. The reason is that they did not fully understand these people, who usually came from distant lands. As a result, they were naturally afraid of them and this misunderstanding eventually lead to bloodshed and misery.

An example is a story which takes place in Europe. In one part of Europe(A), a particular hand gesture means to "come here" while in another region(B), a similar hand gesture means to "go away". One day, two people from (B) came to a beach located in (A) and decided to go for a swim. However, they swam too far and had unwittingly strayed into protected territory. Some guards spotted them and fearing them to be spies, made such a hand gesture, signalling for them to swim to them where they could be questioned. Unfortunately, the two men misinterpreted the signal as that of the guards telling them to leave the area at once and did so. This reinforced the guards' belief that the two men were indeed spies and shot them to death.

If the people in the story had only learnt to understand the signals, their deaths would have been prevented. Thus, it is very important to bridge the gap between people from different cultures. The world may be of considerable size, but modern technology has enabled us to reach out to millions of people in mere seconds. But this is not enough. For IFD to be a success, we must actually be willing to befriend those around us and accept both their strengths and weaknesses. To see just how good and knowledgable you really are, feel free to attempt this quiz which is on the different traditions, superstitions and cultures of different people.