civitas

For the past couple months, I have been living in one of the most diverse places on earth: a city.  Of course, some cities are more diverse than others, but I think it a general trend that cities are more diverse than towns or suburbs, especially in "melting pot" places like the US.

This new level of diversity has its ups and downs. I'd like to comment on a few that I have noticed so far.

Behold, an enormous pile of Ethiopian foods.

Benefit: There is a delicious variety of culinary options. I've gotten to eat plenty of foods for the first time, like Ethiopian and Canadian food.  I can easily find food choices from anywhere in the world, either at a restaurant or at a grocery store.  I also have a lot of fun finding a variety of fruits and treats that I don't often find in the suburbs.  Sometimes I go to the store and pick up something that I had no idea even existed (let alone knowing what it actually is) and go home to figure out how to cook it.  Makes for interesting dinners. x) The opportunities to try new things are apparently infinite.

Difficulty: I can't communicate with everyone.  A woman at the store asked me for help the other day in very broken English; mostly pantomime. I think I know what she needed, and I tried to help answer her question.  Because I speak English and Spanish, I'm pretty accustomed to having a way to talk with almost everyone.  I asked if she spoke Spanish and she shook her head and said "Iran".
I thought I would get so much Spanish practice living in a more diverse area, but so far I've instead found more opportunities to speak Hindi, Persian, Tagalog, Mandarin, Korean, Thai, and even German. Unfortunately, I don't know an appreciable amount of any of these languages.

Benefit: There is so much to do here. There are plenty of interesting touristy things that I want to do (but there are too many to do all of them) and then cool places to go that are just part of the normal life. There are tons of big, unique, exciting things to see and do, and I still want to have time to explore the neighborhoods to see the colorful houses and the way people decorate their gardens. I'm caught between trying to experience this place as a tourist and a local! I'm trying to get a good feel of the area, which includes everything from museums and historic sites to hikes and outdoor activities, to amusement parks, to finding a local soccer league, a good jogging route, and the best panadería. I think I'm doing a pretty good job, but there is just so much to explore.

Difficulty: Regardless of the local crime statistics, there is less public trust in cities. If you don't lock your car or home, you are insane. This is generally good practice in the first place, but here, locking the car isn't enough. The standard protocol for leaving the car involves making sure there are no bag-looking or valuable-looking or interesting-looking things in sight at all. If you are leaving anything in your car, move it to the trunk. Then park in a well-lit area. And don't walk around too late at night.
I haven't had any problems with this so far, but I do like being a community where you aren't paranoid about leaving your car for too long and feel like you can trust the universe a little bit more.

Benefit: I'm exposed to a lot of new ideas and perspectives.  Some views that I didn't really understand or appreciate before make more sense as I meet people who hold them and see situations that I hadn't considered before.  In addition to social ideas like why a policy is actually beneficial or getting to know the kinds of people behind a movement, I'm also exposed to all kinds of other ideas: new music, new applications or needs for technology, new languages, new slang, history that I never knew, artwork that I'd never seen, science I hadn't been around before (like why the weather here is the way that it is). I get a better perspective on tons of things and can keep the ideas that I need or like and have a better understanding of ideas that I don't.

Difficulty:  My own ideas get challenged more often.  This isn't inherently a bad thing (indeed, I think it's an important process for everyone to experience as our ideas and values develop) but I'm still testing the waters and learning how to have constructive conversations with people who disagree with me. By simple virtue of living with more people around me, I have to interact with people more often. I've had many exchanges where people are interested and respectful, and I've had some exchanges where that isn't the case.  Being around people who don't understand or challenge my ideas and values gives me more opportunity to consider why I hold those ideas and values in the first place. Sometimes it changes what I think about something, and sometimes it reaffirms it.  These interactions also give me better insight to how to ask about or challenge someone else's ideas respectfully, since I know what it's like to be on the receiving end of an unfriendly challenge.


Overall, one of the biggest things I have noticed from my time living in a city is that it teaches you to learn how to live with other people.  I had figured I was already pretty knowledgeable in this, since I come from a big family and I've been to college and had the gamut of experiences with roommates and neighbors.  I've spent a lot of time living with other people around me. But there's a lot to learn when you go somewhere where there are suddenly more people around you...more weird people, more grumpy people, more kind people, more people whom you can help, more busy people, more noisy people, more happy people, more friendly people...  You're no longer in situations where maybe most of the people had similar values or similar goals as yours, and working together or understanding each other wasn't that hard. But suddenly that isn't there anymore, and you still need to work together to create a good community.

I think one of the big ideas that we really need to grasp for the future is figuring out what kinds of laws and resources and schools and responsibilities and rights and technology we will need so that we can learn to live with more and more people, even people who aren't necessarily like us. In an increasingly globalizing world, this is becoming more and more vital. But more than figuring out the tools we will need to make that happen, we need to figure out what kind of people we should be to make that happen. We need to decide how we're going to treat people, even if they disagree with us or don't speak our language well or even if they offend us.  We need to learn how to listen to people and understand their points of view, and recognize that their perspectives are just as valid as our own.  Turns out people are complex enough that we may never have stuff like this completely figured out, but in the meantime we can always open our hearts and minds a little more to move everyone forward together.

identitatem

It's still Black History Month, so to celebrate I thought I'd learn some American History that I previously did not know, and then share it with the world in general so that you can have the opportunity to learn things, too.

Today, February 21st marks the assassination of human rights activist Malcolm X. 

Many inspirational leaders grow up in hardship and overcome it to live a fulfilling life, often because of a strong influence from their family.  Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, did not.  He was born in 1925 in Nebraska, and suffered much due to racism and hatred.  By his early teens, many of his family members had been harassed by white supremacists.  His father, a black minister who often gave controversial sermons, was brutally killed and his uncle was lynched.  His mother was later placed in a mental hospital and young Malcolm fell into the cracks between foster homes.  He dropped out of school and moved to Boston where he got involved in crime.

At the age of 21, Malcolm X was imprisoned for burglary.  While there, he encountered the ideology of the Nation of Islam, a movement that aimed to improve the quality of life of humanity, specifically African Americans. He was excited by their ideas of black nationalism and racial separatism. It was because of this that he changed his last name to "X", to symbolize his stolen African identity. After six years in prison, Malcolm X was released and became a prominent leader within the Nation of Islam.  He was soon known for his harsh indictment of racial hate crimes and his support of liberation by any means necessary. He was not always on the same page as other civil rights champions, who called for integration and understanding.  Malcolm X advocated racial pride and identity and fierce self-protection.

Malcolm developed as a powerful orator and was admired by much of the African American community.  Eventually his philosophies became very involved and outspoken, such that he was suspended from the Nation of Islam.  This did not inhibit him from being politically active, although it did allow him to investigate other ideologies and reconsider his approaches to ideals.  After breaking with the Nation of Islam, Malcolm made a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he was inspired by the racial harmony amongst orthodox Muslims there.  Upon returning to America, X changed his name to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz and founded the Afro-American Unity, an organization that promoted black identity and argued that racism rather than the white community was the cruelest enemy of African Americans (and indeed, any person).  This less extreme philosophy gained many followers and Malcolm X continued to be a strong leader and an involved individual.

Unfortunately, standing up for something sometimes only makes it seem further beyond your reach.  Malcolm was targeted by many who disagreed with him.  In February of 1965, his home was firebombed. He managed to escape, but a week later was shot by Nation of Islam members--his own people--at an organization rally.  
Malcolm's life and death were surrounded by controversy.  Many people condemned him for his extreme views and overzealous methods.  Others revered him for his boldness and strength in the face of pain and difficulty.

To me, Malcolm X was a firm believer in the value of identity.  He went through a few identity changes, outwardly changing his name from Malcolm Little to Malcolm X to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz as a reflection of his inner shifts in identity: from identifying himself as a downtrodden shadow of society, to a bold and relentless fighter for his and his peoples' rights, and finally to a warrior for equality and personal identity.  As he encouraged others to be true to their identity, he discovered his own.

nobis

We've now had a week of February to enjoy, and if you haven't already heard a few times, it's "Black History Month".

I hope I don't offend anybody by addressing this.  As many of you may know, I myself am not black.  So my perspective may be different because of that.  Even so, I offer my views with all due respect.

To start off, though, I'd like to share God's opinion on it.

Actually it's Morgan Freeman, but if you've seen Evan Almighty, you'll understand.

Here's a portion of an interview a couple years back:

I must say that I agree with Mr. Freeman completely.  Black History is American History, as is Native American History, Asian American History, Third-child-of-a-second-generation-Italian-immigrant-and-a-Malaysian-refugee History...
If American History was limited to the puritans and their descendants, it would be boring indeed.

I also agree that issues like racism are aggravated by people making them issues.  We have more commonalities than differences with most people, but we judge so quickly on what we can see most immediately: skin, tattoos, clothing, sex, kemptness of hair...  It all results in this view of "us" and "them"--people we think are like us, and people we think have nothing to do with us. Eventually, you begin to think that one group of your over-generalized dichotomy is better than the other for one reason, and even if it's something small like "Oh, I just don't think they really understand how to act in this part of town", it's not right.

We all do it, really.  And it doesn't even have to follow racial lines.  For example, I'm a bit discriminatory against people that go to a particular rival university.  It doesn't make that much sense.  But for some reason, I automatically make judgments against people I've never before met solely based on where they go to school.
I guess the first step, though, is admittance.

So how do you celebrate Black History Month (which some would prefer to call American History Month)? Take some time to learn some history, make an effort to be less discriminatory and more accepting, and look for the things you share with other people, whether they're someone you meet now, or someone who is part of the great American history.  See more "us" and less "them".  It's something we all need to work on, and we have a month to make that particular effort.