Cuando uno se acostumbra, lo diferente resulta cotidiano.
When one gets used to something, what is different becomes daily.
Ask yourself this: on a daily basis, how many people do you interact with that come from a different country or a different ideological, religious, cultural, racial or socioeconomic background than you? Be honest with yourself. Do interactions with people that are very different than you make you uncomfortable? Angry? Avoidant?
We live in a world that is rapidly globalizing, and people from vastly different backgrounds and creeds now come into contact more than ever. Some might argue that as a result of this, xenophobia and segregation are increasing. Others might say that there are increasing amounts of integration and understanding. These themes are interesting, and important. I am interested in how they manifest on a smaller scale.
I am on a mission to understand difference. It is my belief that by doing our best to understand what is different and strange to us, we can rid ourselves of fear, hate and misunderstanding. What does that mean exactly? Part of the process is figuring the question out in itself. Perhaps it is best to start with an example.
You move to a new country. You don’t speak the language or know your way around, geographically or culturally. You keep bumping into people on the street because they walk so damn slow, and this morning you were served rice and bread for breakfast – a clear carb overload. There are pictures of Jesus in the government buildings you have visited for work and people continue to seem offended when you greet them, but you’re not quite sure why. You feel confused and disliked and you can’t see yourself making friends with any of the locals
But what you may not realize is the perspective of the people in your new home country. To them, you are just as strange as they are to you. To them, walking quickly is a sign of anxiety and signals to your friends that you want to get away from them as quickly as possible. Rice and bread are cheap and are common for breakfast in order to help create energy for the high altitude that you now live at. Close to 95% of the population is Catholic, and Jesus is a part of life for many people, socially if not individually. And greeting people by kissing them on the cheek is necessary in order to be polite. At first interaction, perhaps you are just as cold and unfriendly to them as they are to you.
The point of view of each and every person in this world is affected by their culture, their family, their upbringing, their life experiences and their individual values. But how often do we consider these things when we interact with those around us? In our current globalizing world, encountering such difference is easy and often right in front of our face. You don’t have to leave your city in order to find people from all different colors and creeds. But do we attempt to understand or interact with people who are different from us? Or do we walk right by them, keep doing what is comfortable, and continue to misunderstand our fellow humans as well as ourselves?
Do we focus on the strangeness, and miss the humanity? What happens when we step outside our comfort zones, and smile at that person with the strange clothes, or allow ourselves to look someone who seems different in the face?
Through seeing the point of view of others, we learn about ourselves, we learn to live with empathy and compassion, and we learn that humans are all ultimately just that – human. I am on a mission to push myself to do just this. To find the original point of view for every story that I personally encounter. To help myself to understand others better and to help them to understand me if they so choose.