Through an outside lense…
I just joined this site - so glad I found it. I’m beginning to make sense to myself now.
I was thinking about what Brice said about being free because you belong to your own ‘third’ culture… Something that really gets to people about me is the fact that I view mainstream North American culture through a dispassionate outside lense. I question everything - why only three meals? Why can’t dessert be first? Why shake with your right hand - for that matter, why must we shake hands? Why are clean shoes indoors fine but hats are rude? Why the fixation with time and punctuality? On and on. I live life by what is practical and makes sense. Not everything in this culture makes sense, as a matter of fact some aspects of other cultures make far more sense, yet by adhering to them I am ‘backwards’, not ‘normal’, and ‘you can’t function in society like that - you have to learn to (insert socially acceptable behavior)’. I try to explain the logic and philosophy of alternate ways of doing things which are practiced around the globe, but no-one wants to listen or understand.
But I can’t stop analyzing and picking apart every ‘norm’ and ‘custom’, asking why, trying to find the logic, and discarding that which isn’t rational. Is there anyone else here who finds they do this?
Yet for all the hassle I endure because I cannot bring myself to conform to illogical, unnecessary parts of ‘normal culture and customs’, I feel freer than people who are so blind to how rigidly confined they are by ‘norms’.
Aloha, Shalom, Bonjour, Danse, Hola, Konichiwa! Spent a portion of my childhood living on a Native American reservation in Canada because we used to man the post office there. So my culture is a mix between my own ethnic Dutch-Scottish-English-Irish-Austrian-Romanian, and Native culture. My Mom was a military brat who assimilated French, Japanese, and Hawaiian culture, so I also have those in my culture mix too. I've lived fourteen places, spread among two countries/one continent and an island. That's the short version!
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2 Comments to “Through an outside lense…”
May 22nd, 2008 at 2:40 am
I know that feeling. There’s a lot that people do which is unquestioned by the majority because it’s a tradition that’s been in place for so long that people forgot why they did it originally. As outsiders, and people privy to always looking at a culture and disemminating it, we catch these and ask “Why?”
It can be interesting, because these are the roots of culture. It’s interesting on the outside though. Being encouraged and even forced to live by those rules can be, at best, unpleasant and frustrating.
Talked to you before, but welcome!
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May 27th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Hi jackrabbit! So you are the other rabbit that wrote in the chat room the other day!
Welcome!
I have to agree with what you said about the questioning of the practice, behavior, assumptions, etc. I am yet to unveil what culture defines and what makes up a cultural norm. it seems to me, the image and sense are too broad to adeptly put into rather fancy words >_<
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