MY GIFT TO YOU—GET YOUR FREE EBOOK—”THE 5-DAY JOURNEY TO CULTURAL AWARENESS”!
He’s been there before. He knows. He remembers what it feels like. He’s been in their shoes.
If you’re a parent, you know that feeling . . . the one where you are filled with overwhelming love in your heart and pride in your child.
You watch them from afar, and you say, “Yep, that’s my son.” “Yep, that’s my daughter.”
Today, that happened . . . again.
Last week, two new boys arrived on the field at David’s soccer club. They weren’t your typical Spanish youth. They looked different. They dressed different. They sounded different. They played different.
Everything about them screamed “DIFFERENT”!
The World is Afraid
The world is afraid of “different.” When something or someone is outside of “our box,” we don’t know what to do with it. We don’t know where it fits.
The world wants everyone and everything to be familiar, the same . . . like us.
But, it’s not. The world is different and diverse. It’s made up of different peoples, different cultures, different languages, different everything.
“Different” scares us.
We push it away. We reject it. We throw it out. We say it’s wrong.
“Chinos! Chinos!” the Spanish soccer players yelled at the two new Asian boys who walked onto the field to join David’s team in practice that night.
They weren’t Chinese, they were Korean, but they were automatically lumped into the “Asian” category. The “Chino” label was quickly stuck on their foreheads and all over their bodies . . . even if that label wasn’t accurate, wasn’t true.
They were outcasts. They were different.
The Spanish players on David’s team didn’t want to play with them. They didn’t want them. They didn’t want to welcome them, to include them, to integrate them.
Instead, they threw them out. They rejected them.
Before Even . . .
Before even meeting them, before even saying “Hola,” before even shaking their hands, before even asking their names, before even asking where they were from.
Barriers, separation, division, judgement.
Maybe these two boys from Korea could be a great addition to their soccer team. Maybe these two boys from Korea could open these young Spanish boys to the world. Maybe these two boys from Korea could make a difference.
But, they didn’t even give them a chance. These two Korean boys didn’t even have an opportunity to try.
Because no one built a bridge to them. No one reached out to shake their hands. No one said “hola.”
No one did . . . no one except David.
Embracing Different
When David heard his Spanish teammates call the two Korean boys “Chinos,” when he saw them refusing to pass the ball to them in warm up, when he saw them rejected and ostracized . . .
David did the opposite. He didn’t reject “different.” He embraced “different.”
David marched right over to the two new Korean boys. He welcomed them. He greeted them. He shook their hands. He asked their names. He asked them where they were from.
David has been there before. He knows. He remembers what it feels like. He’s been in their shoes.
David could see beyond their labels, see beyond their cultural differences.
Only One Year Ago . . .
Only one year ago, David had been the one—the “different” one. Only twelve months ago, David had been the new one to walk out on the soccer field. He didn’t know a single guy on his team. He couldn’t speak a word of Spanish. He didn’t know the language. He didn’t know the culture. He was different.
It takes courage to walk out there and be different. It takes guts to stand in a crowd where you look different, you sound different, you dress differently, you play differently. Everything about you screams, “I AM DIFFERENT!”
How many times had David been in the shoes of those two Korean boys? Walking into a new school where he didn’t know a soul, joining a group of young people where he couldn’t understand a word they were saying, sitting in a place where he didn’t know the cultural rules around him . . . how many times had he been there?
David knows what it feels like to be “different.” Maybe those Spanish boys don’t know. Maybe they have never been there, never felt it.
Building Cultural Bridges
David dared to make a bridge, to cross the divide of “different.” David walked over and began “weaving cultures.”
He took off their inaccurate, stereotypical label of “Chinos” and gave them a new sticker. It said, “I’m different and proud of it!” It was the same sticker he was wearing. Great! Now, they could be “different” together. I mean, who wants to be the “same” as everyone else? “Different” is much more exciting!
“Hello,” David said. “Hello,” they responded. Their conversation continued in English—a common language, a bridge.
David asked questions and listened to their story. These two young Korean boys had just arrived in Spain a few weeks ago. Not knowing a word of Spanish, they were thrown into the Spanish public schools. It was a difficult transition.
Weaving Cultures With a Ball
David passed the ball to them—“weaving cultures” and building bridges with a soccer ball between their feet.
Who would have known that David, a French/American boy living in Spain, would be “weaving cultures” on the soccer pitch with two Korean boys?
Vincent looked from afar at David on the soccer field with his two new Korean friends and teammates.
“Yep, that’s my son,” Vincent said to himself, his heart filled with love and pride.
Vincent and David talked to the boys and their family after practice.
We Need Friends
“We want friends. We need friends,” they said in their broken English. They were desperately crying out for community, for companionship, for friendship.
David would be their friend on the soccer field and off the soccer field.
Our son knows how to “weave cultures,” and he’s not afraid of being “different.”
If you’ve never tried, today could be the day! Reach out to someone who is “different”!
Let’s all weave culture and embrace “DIFFERENT”!
—THE CULTURAL STORY-WEAVER
MY GIFT TO YOU—GET YOUR FREE EBOOK—”THE 5-DAY JOURNEY TO CULTURAL AWARENESS”!
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LET’S WEAVE CULTURES!
Have you ever had to go against the crowd to build a bridge with someone who is different than you? What did that feel like? How did people around you respond? What was the result of you reaching out?
We invite you to tell us your own cultural stories and global adventures . . . as you engage with the world, breaking down barriers, building bridges, and “weaving cultures”! Write about them in the comment box below.
