Practicing Awareness of Microagressions

     One example of a microagression that has stuck with me was from a cooperate party hosted by my husband's employer at the time.  It was held at a Chinese restaurant that was rather expensive.  My husband had introduced me to one of his bosses and I thought that he must be an intelligent man based upon how he carried himself and his rank in the company.  During the speech part of the dinner, the topic of "Chinese overtime" was addressed.  I was mortified!  The servers looked appalled at the fact that the man would continue to say the phrase over and over again. 
     This week I learned that many of the things that offend people are not meant to be malicious.   People often talk and do not think about the consequences of the things that they say.  Words can hurt people and they can also tarnish reputations.  I have been more aware of the things that I have said this week as well. 

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

      I asked three people that I am fairly close to what their definition of culture was.  The responses that I received are all different and in some respects I suppose that they are accurate.  The responses I received were: 1) where you come from as in your roots, 2) the things that you believe in and your race and religion, and 3) all of the things that make us individuals such as our beliefs.
      I found that the three people that I asked all had different answers, but that they all had some truth to them.  Religion and race are two things that we have talked about in this course as being important to culture.  Many of the resources that we have read and the videos we have watched mention that it is  what we believe.  Some of the things that were omitted from the definitions that I received that I was sure would be mentioned were gender, class, age and ethnicity.  My Hispanic friend is the person who said that it was our roots, and in some ways I suppose that these things would figure in to that category, but they were not specifically named as I thought they would be.
      I never considered how broad of a topic culture is until this course.  I do not think that that is a negative thing, but I do feel that there some what of a misconception about culture as well.  Parts of our culture are heredity and/or genetic, but many aspects of our culture we have freedom to choose for ourselves.  I think that it is interesting that two of the people I asked related culture to religion.  I believe that you can have culture without being a part of a religious faith, but most people have a religious affiliation that they feel connects them to a larger cultural group.  
    

My Family Culture

       If I were to be in a situation where I had to go to another host country due to a catastrophe and I was only allowed to bring three things (assuming that my family was already with me) I would take my Bible, my photo albums and my Ipod.  I would take my Bible to remind me that God walks beside me through all of my trials and tribulations and if I am too weak to walk he will carry me through.  I would take my photo albums so that I would have the memories of loved ones that had passed and of my children with  me.  I would take my Ipod so I could listen to music to lift my spirits; I can be having a terrible day and a song come on the radio that I haven't heard in a while that puts me in a different frame of mind. 
       If I were to arrive and be told that I could only keep one of the three items, I would keep my Bible.   I would keep it because I know that reading the words would give me that strength to persevere on through the hard times hopefully to come out of all things unscathed. 
       This task made it clear to me that my culture has everything to do with how I would have reacted in this situation as well as many others.  It shapes most elements of who we are and how we think about the things and the people in our lives.