old pensées
So I was reading back through old journal entries on my computer, and I happened upon a bunch from my first week at college. This one struck me in particular, and I so I thought I'd share it.
The weird thing about my encounter with that guy I got paired with for dinner last night, though, was that, like almost every other encounter with new people, the subject turned to nationality. He talked about India, and then my hallmate described her Greek and Italian family, but then he turned to me as though I were something different from American. Isn't that what we are all? I could tell he was scrutinizing me, trying to decipher what ethnic, diverse background I could have, and in a way, it startled me as being quite ridiculous. I have freaking blond hair and blue eyes. Big deal. I certainly don't sound ethnic, so what else am I other than American???
But no, he proceeded to ask if I was Swedish. Swedish! The closest thing I know to anything Swedish is those gummy fish you can buy in the drugstore! I almost had to shut my mouth to keep from laughing. It was just so....unexpectedly stupid. This guy had just been telling me how he was going to go to medical school with his 4.0 and become a surgeon, and there he was, only moments later, stumbling over something so unimportant! I kindly told him that my family had been in the United States for hundreds of years and that I was of English descent. I think he felt a bit dumb from what I could judge from the look on his face.
Honestly, I didn't really care, but it just seemed so absurd to me. Are we really looking so hard in this day and age for 'diversity' that we must all try to find an ethnic uniqueness? I'm plain, boring old British, and I don't care. Really, if this is the sort of thing that our world is coming to, are we really helping anything by 'diversifying'? Isn't diversity about learning to accept one another so that we can live as one community? But if we are trying too hard to find "uniqueness" in physical traits, how does that help us see our similar human hearts? I just don't get it.
Monday, August 25, 2008
1:34pm; Barrett social parlor
1:34pm; Barrett social parlor
The weird thing about my encounter with that guy I got paired with for dinner last night, though, was that, like almost every other encounter with new people, the subject turned to nationality. He talked about India, and then my hallmate described her Greek and Italian family, but then he turned to me as though I were something different from American. Isn't that what we are all? I could tell he was scrutinizing me, trying to decipher what ethnic, diverse background I could have, and in a way, it startled me as being quite ridiculous. I have freaking blond hair and blue eyes. Big deal. I certainly don't sound ethnic, so what else am I other than American???
But no, he proceeded to ask if I was Swedish. Swedish! The closest thing I know to anything Swedish is those gummy fish you can buy in the drugstore! I almost had to shut my mouth to keep from laughing. It was just so....unexpectedly stupid. This guy had just been telling me how he was going to go to medical school with his 4.0 and become a surgeon, and there he was, only moments later, stumbling over something so unimportant! I kindly told him that my family had been in the United States for hundreds of years and that I was of English descent. I think he felt a bit dumb from what I could judge from the look on his face.
Honestly, I didn't really care, but it just seemed so absurd to me. Are we really looking so hard in this day and age for 'diversity' that we must all try to find an ethnic uniqueness? I'm plain, boring old British, and I don't care. Really, if this is the sort of thing that our world is coming to, are we really helping anything by 'diversifying'? Isn't diversity about learning to accept one another so that we can live as one community? But if we are trying too hard to find "uniqueness" in physical traits, how does that help us see our similar human hearts? I just don't get it.
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