I experienced something very disconcerting during our trip to New Jersey this past weekend. When we went to a restaurant, I noticed a lot of black people. When we went to the mall, I noticed a lot of Asian people. At one point (I don't remember where we were), I noticed a lot of Hispanic people. Noticing the vast melting pot is nothing new, since we lived in that area for all of our officer career prior to these last 6 years in Maine. What was disconcerting was that in these situations, I felt uncomfortable and a bit nervous.
When we first traveled to Maine for a day visit, we saw no black people while we were there and that bothered us tremendously. We were comfortable with diverse ethnicity and were concerned about what cultural homogeny would be like.
Since living in Maine (specifically Bangor), we have discovered there is no prejudice toward blacks- there just aren't enough here to be seen as a "threat." Where we see prejudice is toward Asians, who are the fastest growing ethnic group in our area. Granted, this prejudice is minor, because there just aren't enough Asians around to make much difference either, but it is there nonetheless.
Fear comes from the unknown; if you don't know something, you are generally afraid of it. Prejudice comes from the same roots- people not understanding other cultures. Usually, the fear is abated when you begin to learn.
When you spend time in a certain situation, you gain a comfort level. But the longer you are away from that situation, the further you get from being comfortable. I did not like seeing that my comfort level had been lowered regarding other cultures. Rats!
The more I think about this, the more I am drawn to think about people who spend no time around God. They don't understand him (well who does?) or "religion" so their comfort level is very low. They avoid every situation where God might even be mentioned. In effect, they are afraid of God.
How much more then, do we need to be examples of who God is? God with skin. When people get comfortable with us and begin to trust us, they might just begin to open up to experiencing God for themselves. After all, we aren't so bad.
Are we?
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6 comments:
oh man, three blogs in three days! All good ones, too. Thanks, Doug.
God with skin. . love that.
I really like your honesty about your uncomfortable feelings and the way you are disappointed with yourself for feeling that way. .
hey, the more ethnic groups you get, the better selection of resturaunts, who can complain about that?
oh yes, and i love black people and i love mexicans and i love asians. I know lots of nice people from these places :)
Good Word!
Bless u!
Joshua
People get culture shock spiritually and noone likes culture shock so they wan tto stay away from anyhtuing that could make them uncomfortable. It sounds like we hold some of the blame on that one? Or am I totally missing the point?
Good call on the sky Chicken Little.
Living within 6 miles of the 2 largest casinos in the world has made our community a melting pot of cultures. Just after moving here, I was amazed when I would walk down the street and hear the different languages.
Our school district has a ESL program that invovles 34 languages!
This in a city of 35,000 people. I think we have more chinese food restaurants per capita than any other city! LOL
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