Added Value: Cultures

     Here I am, about 1/3 of the way through our 25th Anniversary cruise, looking out the window in the Dominican Republic. I hope being away a few days doesn't mean I lost my entire following. I promise when we get back next week, there'll be more daily blog posts and an October living simply/minimalist challenge. But today, I want to write about the different perceptions we all have regarding other cultures. Learning to see things differently helps us to become better people and hopefully make the world a better place.

     In the airport, I started people-watching, one of my favorite things. I realized how I had very different perceptions of people than my fellow travelers. Here's what I saw & thought:

A woman disheveled, practically dragging her little preschooler, running through the terminal. What would you think? I pictured she was late, having a bad day or else she wouldn't be looking so stressed. She's probably a good Mom, though, since her little girl was still happy and smiling and taking in the wonder of an airport. What did I hear someone else say? Things regarding how "messy" she looked, and other comments about her appearances - hair, clothes all askew, shoe untied...nothing but outward appearance criticisms.

A couple sitting on the floor in the gate waiting area. They're about 50, he's thin and tall with long straight "rocker" hair. she's got a hairstyle that's a bit outdated, wearing jeans & a hockey t-shirt. I saw them and wondered where they're traveling together, are they going on vacation? or meeting up with family? or traveling for business and the other gets to come along? Someone else summed them up in one word...hippies. Come to find out, we ran into them at our hotel & they're on the ship with us. They're even from another part of our same town. He works for a major technology company and she gets up at 4 am to go to her job. They travel quite a bit, but definitely not hippies. More like yuppies.

Traveling from Amber Cove in the Dominican to a beach several coves over, taking a half hour ride through the countryside to get there, we pass people living in a few houses, but most of them don't. Most live in very meager homes, with corrugated metal roofs or thatched roofs made of palm tree fronds. Many have boards missing from the side of their little one and two room houses, no cars to be seen, cows, pigs, chickens, donkeys, and horses in fields as well as strolling down the sides of the streets. The locals tend to just sit on their little porches and wave as our open air bus drives by along the rutted road. No job to go to on a Monday. No places nearby to work anyway. I start wondering if they're simply living a peaceful life similar to an American farmer life - rise with the sun, rest in the shade during the heat of the day - taking care of animals and whatever they grow. Do they barter with neighbors for what they need? To they sell among themselves in a little farmer's market type of area? None of them look sad or pitiful. They're clean, their clothes are clean. Their hair is neat. They're smiling and friendly with nothing to gain by being that way to a passing bus of strangers they'll never see again. Yet, on our bus, all I hear Americans saying is how poor these people are, how they're living in such poverty, etc. Maybe that's true, but maybe that's just how their culture sees time, and material possessions, and needs rather than wants.

     In a few days, I'll be writing about Curacao and then Aruba, then I'll be home again. I'm having a great time meeting people who work on the ship from all over the world. Our favorites are Jennifer from Mexico City, Mexico, Vera from Croatia, and Dusan from Serbia. They are the nicest, funniest, sweetest people. It's so sad that although they tend to enjoy many American passengers (even becoming friends with some of them), they still have their horror stories about some that find out where they're from and attack the staff's homeland. They instigate trouble, goading them to start some stupid argument, for what purpose? Just because we're blessed with opportunities and freedom, that doesn't mean our humans are somehow superior to another country's humans. Compare laws, governments, opportunities, economies, job markets, but seriously, stop comparing people - because we're all individuals. I hate being lumped into the worst of the worst American groups you see making the news, and I bet you would too.

     Today, add value to your life by getting to know someone you didn't know before that's from somewhere else. You just may be pleasantly surprised to find you have more in common than you thought. Have a great week until we're both on here again.