Blog Post #2 - Anna Claire Lindow - Expanding Worldview
The Lifestyle.
The news can cover stories, social media lets people stay connected hundreds of miles away, texts offer conversations with diverse people, yet, understanding norms and values is not easily understood without understanding in the first person. I had the opportunity to live abroad when I was young, offering a unique perspective on cultural challenges. Anytime I approach a global issue, I am able to bring in a diverse point of view without realizing simply because of my experience. I’m able to relate other travel opportunities to Europe like South America and see differences and similarities between The States and other worlds. My dad, being a pilot, has traveled to nearly every continent and most countries showing constant new perspectives, including my own brother who lives in Japan. For me, the earth is truly an explorable place with interconnected people and ideas, not separate independent entities on a globe.
While increasing globalization is a positive thing, it can also draw attention to differences in cultural values, making travelers who want to learn, feel shunned, shamed, or like an outlier, discouraging shared communities. Here in Europe, it seems to be a norm for families to have one, maybe two kids. Cars are made for the small family of four. Houses are smaller. Workplaces don’t expect employees to work overtime or a true 9-5. They give more maternity leave and better public education systems. Simply put, Germany was made for Germans, so when my family moved here, we felt out of place. Getting stared at for having three kids and two dogs, an SUV to carry us around, for having two full time working parents who couldn’t always pick us up from school, for being loud, for asking for still water at restaurants. Just a few things that caused us to feel like outliers who weren't welcome even when we were trying. Either system isn’t wrong or right but rather fits the cultural lifestyle that has persisted for years in the specific community, but it affects how people connect and explore cultures.
What I think needs a fundamental change, is how we approach strangers within our spaces. They are not weird, they are different. They are not incompetent; they are trying to learn something new. Instead of shunning foreign ideas, we need to provide a supportive place for exploration where people are welcome and not judged and can form their own opinions based on unique perspectives.
Incredible, Anna Claire I really admire your unique outlook on this issue having personal experiences growing up in a foreign country. Oftentimes foreigners can feel like outsiders and have trouble integrating into cultures because they simply did not grow up the way we did. It can be challenging having to navigate these cultural differences from both sides, but something to always remember is patience with people. No matter what we look like, we're all human and some more patience in the world would go a long way. I have experienced some of this patience here when I was in the grocery store buying water bottles in Vienna. I needed to find still water, but couldn't read the labels and had no internet to translate them. I had to ask multiple people then if the bottles were still or sparkling, and I appreciated the patience people had with me, a foreign tourist, when they themselevs were simply trying to buy groceries.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you drew in your own experiences that have expanded your worldview, like living abroad when you were younger or your dad being a pilot. These things have been crucial in constructing your worldview, and seeing the global community as being interconnected. I also agree with the point you made about globalization drawing attention to cultural differences. With more interconnection than ever, it is easier to see that some cultures at times clash/aren't compatible with one another. These cultural differences can definitely make those who are traveling feel as though they cannot connect with the culture of the place they are traveling to. These differences can make interactions at times not just awkward, but hostile, and that is certainly something to consider.
ReplyDeleteI am very much on the same page about noticing cultural subtleties that contribute to contrasting lifestyles and outlooks that aren't necessarily better from an objective perspective. It always fascinates me to see how different ways of life can make people equally content. I completely agree that we need to begin analyzing foreign ideas with curiosity rather than judgment. By embracing this instead of viewing the outsider or outlier as weird or disgusting, we need to see them as a chance to learn. This develops our own culture into a more equal and beneficial one.
ReplyDeleteSuch a beautiful perspective! I entirely agree that it matters how we treat foreigners and that we should prioritize treating them as equals rather than outcasts. I have felt specifically judged on this trip for being an American, partially because we look and act different, but also probably because of the current political state and how our government is at odds with Europe. Several times I have found myself feeling embarrassed, annoyed, or misunderstood, and then I have thought to myself, this is exactly how we treat foreigners in the United States. I look at them as different, maybe weird, and sometimes incompetent, just as you explained. This perspective of being inclusive, and embracing is exactly the shift I need to implement in how I view strangers.
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