Generalizations
I had a really interesting experience a couple of weeks ago. My son brought a friend home with him from college for part of summer break. His friend is from Bangladesh and has been in the states for only 2-3 months. I will call his friend Tucker.
Tucker is eager to learn about American culture. He wants to understand and to acclimate. He's trying to reconcile what he knows of American culture from Hollywood productions with what he is experiencing here now. In general I avoid generalizing people. No pun intended... but I don't like to lump label folks like, "Those people are like this, and these people are like that." The real answer is -- we are all just individuals. We are each born unique and then shaped by nurture, and resultantly we just are who we are! You will find a few open minded and open hearted intellectuals in southern Mississippi, and you will find a few evangelical christians in San Francisco.
But, the problem is that the brain seeks to classify and categorize and compare to what it is familiar when taking in a lot of new information. It seeks generalizations to make sense of everything. So when Tucker was trying to understand what the US is like, in general, or what southerners are like, in general, I felt I had to validate some of the stereotypes he was questioning because I saw that it was helpful for him, at first, to understand a general big picture. I did keep reiterating that everyone is unique and you can't generalize folks, but also had to agree that southerners move a little slower on the roads and people from NY/NJ...in general...have a certain accent. THIS WAS HARD FOR ME!
Anyways...Tucker is amazing. He's 20 and for a college scholarship has traveled, literally, to the other side of the world by himself. He's adapting from a living in a large crowded Bangladeshi city, mainly Muslim, to a small Tennessee town full of Christians. Here he lives alone, takes care of himself, and insisted on cooking for us 2 nights last week. He was curious, polite, frugal, driven, grateful and a fantastic cook. That is how I will now generalize the people of Bangladesh in my brain. 😉
Thanks for your post. I bet you maintain a very good relationship with your son, such that he will bring his friend to you. That is really good. Not every parent can really do this. So, what is the religion of his friend? As seems like he came from interesting place which the culture is quite different.
Your words fed my heart. I like to think I have a good relationship with my son(s). They do not hide things from me nor their father @sean-king. Thank you for picking up on that.
Tucker's family is Muslim. Thru his experiences traveling abroad his views may be expanding.
Admit it, stereotypes come from somewhere
So you got a bot to post this on every trending post.
Bots do not react like me now, why you want me to have a bad name?
Damn, I honestly wasn't expecting this. I really like the way you used the "generalizations" concept.
Yeah! It's hard to stay open-minded, and stereotypes really help with storytelling, but remembering that each character in your life's story is a unique individual is essential!
Yep 👌🏼
Very interesting! Upvoted and followed!
Very koool post. Inspiring as usual. What did this young man cook for dinner? I'm a bit curious to know. We're all from the same source. We are individuals and yet one energy it's just that our outlets handle different currents due to our own limitations or lack there of. They're also placed in different locations not of our choosing..........
We are all from the same source...whatever you think that is. Yes, exactly! Damn well said. 🙏🏽
Idk the name of the dishes, but each had chicken, potatoes, cumin, turmeric, and a Marsala spice blend that made my kitchen smell heavenly. They were delicious memomrable meals and we hope he will come back again .
Mmmmmm sounds yummy! Excellent post. Thanks for getting back to me. Much appreciated.
That's great, one of my best friends from school traveled to Canada to study from Egypt, lots of cultural differences but that made the friendship so much more interesting as we had way more to learn from each other, growing up in completely different parts of the world with different life experiences. These are great relationships for your son to be developing, he will be a more well-rounded man as a result. Cheers
✌🏾🙏🏽
Haha! We all do it to a degree! :)
Cool post! Upvoted!