Growing up in average, middle class America, there were a great many things I have come to realize I was completely ignorant of. In some aspects, I am absolutely grateful for it, but alternatively, I feel like I am at a disadvantage as well.
For example, in our home, no one ever discussed ethnicity. Hell, I bet I didn’t even know what it really was until high school. Sure, there were other ethnicities around me, but I simply was not aware of them. I didn’t realize that different ethnicities meant different ideas about people, the world around them, and their place in it. I grew up believing that we all wanted the same things for ourselves and our planet. I believed there were two types of people in this world: good ones and bad ones, and both kinds were everywhere in the world. I had no idea that religion, geographic location, and upbringing could shape a person in a way that was vastly different than I; I presumed despite these differences in background, everyone still wanted the best for each other.
My parents never made reference to a person in relation to their background, so I never noticed the nuances of other ethnicities. To this day, if someone comments that some looks (insert ethnicity here), I always find myself trying to figure out exactly how that is. Is it their eyes? Their mouth? I have little idea.
For this ignorance, I am both at an advantage and a disadvantage. I enjoy having zero preconception in my mind that I must eradicate. I am a blank canvas in that way, my picture of you is painted only by your actions. I don’t have to discard obsolete or prejudiced information, because, well, I just don’t have any. For that, I am quite thankful.
The disadvantage is something I feel much more acutely. I am in complete awe of people with rich cultures (something my upbringing lacked severely in), and I am absolutely ill equipped to engage in any type of intelligent conversation, since I have absolutely no idea where to begin. I find culture so truly fascinating, but since my own upbringing was relatively void of tradition and religion, I have none of my own to draw on and relate to others with. I have never touted myself as a “smart” person per se, but the idea of being so vastly ignorant, so completely deficient in what I currently regard as a key area in interpersonal communication, plagues me, and makes me feel small and sheltered. Which I hate. Immensely.
While this isn’t my biggest weakness, it certainly weighs on my mind. You didn’t actually think I’d post my actual biggest weakness here, did you?
I think your ignorance is beautiful and others should take a page out of your book. Ethnicity is so small in scheme of things. My step daughter's mother's friend's (who are black)are constantly telling her that she sounds like a "white girl". The comment wouldn't bother me so much if it wasn't presented in such a derogatory way. If sounding "white" means articulating and using semi-proper English, then yes, I suppose she does sound like a "white" girl. To me she just sounds like an intelligent child.
ReplyDeleteI grew up very similar to you and I feel that it is to our advantage that we are color blind. Culture and ethnicity, while they are not mutually exclusive, are not fully entwined either. Ethnicity is something to put on paper, culture is the core of person. Whites, Blacks, Mexicans, and Asians alike can be raised in the same place and all have similar values and beliefs. Their ethnicity will only reflect a small portion of "who" they are. When all is said and done, it really is an individual that matters and not what they are on paper.