Cultural Awareness Includes the Majority
Decades ago I worked with
a woman who belonged to one of the newly emerging churches of the charismatic
movement. We were in casual conversation
one morning when she suddenly felt the need to, “witness” to me. She put her hand on my arm and fervently
asked if I had been, “born again.” I
took her hand off my arm, gave it a gentle squeeze and said, “Barb, when you
are born Minnesota-Norwegian-Lutheran, once is enough!”
I never did tell her that the only part of the
conversation that offended me was her hand on my arm. Another part of that whole
Minnesota-Norwegian thing is a cool reserve and a very (!!!) healthy respect
for personal space. I have since become
a comfortable and happy, “hugger” but it has taken effort. Probably the hardest part has been in church. This whole, “…sharing the peace of the Lord”
thing (shaking hands with everyone within three pews of you, including the
child with the obvious and vigorous cold) took me years to appreciate. Keep in mind, when I was a child you walked
into church, put your butt in the pew, and kept your mouth shut, your ears open
and your hands folded in your lap! Far
from being oppressive, I learned some pretty solid theology that way and am
still most comfortable in a contemplative church environment. But that’s just me. It is neither right nor wrong; it is just my
personal or cultural preference.
Respect for other cultures is very politically popular
these days, especially if it means empowering a minority group. This is a good thing, if the respect goes
both ways. One of the most egregious
examples of this, “one way” thinking was a team building weekend I was supposed
to take part in at an administrative workshop.
The weekend consisted of living in the woods, canoeing, setting up a
camp, cooking over an open fire and doing scary things involving ropes and
cliffs. We were supposed to do all of
this in order to learn cooperation, trust and mutual dependency. Getting dirty and buggy were bonuses. If you exited the woods spitting, swearing,
readjusting your, “junk” and growing hair on your chest you had earned your
solid gold, “Y” chromosome.
There is a strong bias here in favor of the
masculine attitude of a team. I resented
the implication that if you wanted camaraderie it had to come from some real,
“he-man” stuff. Evidently, no one had
contemplated the thought that you could learn the same laudable attributes by
doing a more feminine task. How about
making all those administrators (yes, most of them were men and happy as clams
in the backwoods, tic infested country of Missouri
Who
says you only learn cooperation around a campfire? How about a quilt frame? Who says you only learn trust with a rope and
gravity; have these people ever handed scissors to someone entrusted with
carefully selected fabric? How about
encouragement and a willingness to train a beginner? How about trust, loyalty and an, “I’ve got your
back” attitude? Personally, (come the
revolution) if I can’t have Seal Team 6 at my door, I’ll take an organized
group of, “long arm” gals every time. Do
not mess with these women; they use scissors the way some people use batons!
It
would be nice if respect and deference for all cultures gave more than lip
service to the rights of the majority.
While
applying sauce to the goose and the gander, keep the faith.
Comments