Cultural Shocks Can’t Hurt You
The world is such a diverse place. And it’s beautiful. I love living in a world where beside me are people of different colors, I love being able to have friends from the LGBTQ community, and I love having friends of different religions. One of the truths of diversity is that every person has a new experience and perspective to bring to the table. In order to appreciate these new, and sometimes what we find as strange, experiences we must be open-minded about them.
But as human as we get, not everyone greets different people with open arms.
In a Sears bathroom, a Muslim grandma washes her feet in the sink “because she has to pray in the store or miss the mandatory prayer time for Muslims.” As someone who is just washing her feet and minding her own business, what harm could this grandma really cause? Yet other Sears women look at her in disgust, telling her that “she can’t do that.” It’s quite ironic how sinks are specifically there to help clean a person, yet these women are disgusted by a grandma’s foot that is literally being cleansed. No harm caused, no rules broken, just a little strange sight that may give a bit of a cultural shock.
Although cultural shock is definitely real, we should remind ourselves not to act on it in a way that criticizes others. It’s important to know the difference between what actually causes harm versus what is just another culture’s tradition.
