The fact that we came from different educational, national and cultural backgrounds therefore holding very disparate opinions actually meant a far more enriching experience for both of us. We spent many hours in that small room sharing tears and laughter, love and hate, words from the heart and white lies, and friendship.
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Once I was asked to stop talking because something amazing became suddenly apparent. A Dali painting was hanging in the room, right in front of our eyes yet we had never noticed or sensed it around us. It showed beautiful swans in an unwelcoming lake and forest, and a human figure turning his back onto them. The weird thing was that the reflection on the lake's waters was not of swans but of elephants! What none of us had realised until then is that sometimes we believe that we are sending others a clear cut impression of our true selves but what they themselves perceive is something entirely different in shape, colour and even identity. How impressive is that!
I applied this epiphany to the area of cultural awareness, how our whole cultural and educational upbringinging shapes our minds from the very beginning leading us to form stereotypes about natives from other countries. I am not a believer in fate and determinism so I hold the strong opinion that each one of us has the capacity to liberate ourselves from pre-determined classifications of judging any person standing before us. Are all Germans inflexible, all Spaniards loud and lazy, all Americans overweight, all Argentinian men flirtatious, all Swedish cold as ice? I agree that there is some truth in stereotypes which are generally based on actual experiences plus a common perception of that particular culture as a whole. We should never forget however that our world is filled with unique individuals that can't just be put as a single entity inside a jar under the exact same label.
I am intrigued how much we expect our new foreign friends to conform to our particular stereotypes of their distinct backgrounds and cultures, how much space and opportunity we allow and offer them for their true, inner 'selves' to be revealed to us, to surprise us in its authentic uniqueness irrespective of what nationality they belong to.
Something else I also ponder, how much we expect and desire them to be just like us…but I'll leave that for another day.
I applied this epiphany to the area of cultural awareness, how our whole cultural and educational upbringinging shapes our minds from the very beginning leading us to form stereotypes about natives from other countries. I am not a believer in fate and determinism so I hold the strong opinion that each one of us has the capacity to liberate ourselves from pre-determined classifications of judging any person standing before us. Are all Germans inflexible, all Spaniards loud and lazy, all Americans overweight, all Argentinian men flirtatious, all Swedish cold as ice? I agree that there is some truth in stereotypes which are generally based on actual experiences plus a common perception of that particular culture as a whole. We should never forget however that our world is filled with unique individuals that can't just be put as a single entity inside a jar under the exact same label.
I am intrigued how much we expect our new foreign friends to conform to our particular stereotypes of their distinct backgrounds and cultures, how much space and opportunity we allow and offer them for their true, inner 'selves' to be revealed to us, to surprise us in its authentic uniqueness irrespective of what nationality they belong to.
Something else I also ponder, how much we expect and desire them to be just like us…but I'll leave that for another day.
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