MY GIFT TO YOU—GET YOUR FREE EBOOK—“THE 5-DAY JOURNEY TO CULTURAL AWARENESS”!
What is my worldview?
My worldview is “how I see the world” or “the way I see my reality.”
Are my eyes open or closed to the world around me? Am I culturally aware or UNaware?
While living in the U.S. for the past 1 1/2 years, we have been exposed to a lot of “Cultural UNawareness.”
1. Someone referred to Africa as a COUNTRY, not a CONTINENT.
2. When we mentioned that we lived in Morocco, someone asked us, “Is that the place where there are a lot of casinos and rich people?” We respectfully replied, “No, that is MONACO, not MOROCCO. Monaco is in France, and Morocco is in North Africa. Morocco is not a wealthy nation.”
3. One of the girls in David’s class thought that Germany was in America, because there are a lot of Germans in Pennsylvania. There is even a town called Berlin, Pennsylvania. She didn’t know that Germany was a separate country. As David described it, he said, “They seem to think that America is the center of the world. That there is no other country.”
4. We have met a lot of people who don’t see the purpose in learning a foreign language when they already speak English—the universal language that can be used wherever they travel in the world.
The list goes on and on.
I’ve Never Noticed!
I don’t mention these incidents and comments to poke fun at the individuals who said these things.
People are simply UNAWARE of the world out there. Most people live in their own world, their own country, their own culture, their own language. They don’t SEE BEYOND themselves. Their worldview is small.
When we first shared with some American friends in Pennsylvania that we had started an “Oasis of Cultures” group of internationals, they couldn’t believe it.
“Where did you meet all of these foreigners?” they asked us.
We told them that we had met all of them right here in our little town in Pennsylvania. They were shocked.
“We’ve been living here all our lives, and we didn’t even know there were people from other countries living here.”
“Really?” I would respond. “They are everywhere! I meet them at the gym, at the grocery store, in doctors’ offices, at the thrift store, at the local coffeehouse . . . Many of them are doctors at the local hospital. Have you ever noticed all the foreign names and faces of the doctors on the wall plaques in the hospital?”
“No, I’ve never noticed.”
Cultural UNawareness
That is called “Cultural UNawareness.” Their eyes are simply not open to the world around them. They live in their own reality, and they do not SEE BEYOND.
I confess that I didn’t have cultural awareness before I traveled to France at the age of 19. It had never been developed. I lived in a very mono-cultural world. My worldview was small. Even though I had studied the French culture and language for many years, my daily reality consisted of Missouri, my family, my friends, my school, my food, my language . . .
I can remember sitting on the floor with my grandfather, looking at a map of France for the first time. We were searching for the name of the village where I had been placed as a nanny for the summer. There was a whole world out there just waiting to be explored!
My worldview was about to explode! My global tapestry was about to expand—and I didn’t even know it!
When I left my house in Missouri that day, I didn’t even know that I had packed my own American culture in my suitcase.
When I landed on French soil, my own American culture confronted another culture—in this case, the French culture—and my eyes were opened. As these two worlds and these two cultures collided, I suddenly became aware of my own culture inside of me—my American culture—my behaviors, my attitudes, my beliefs, my values, etc. It was a natural part of me that I had never noticed or recognized before.
“A fish only discovers its need for water when it is no longer in it. Our own culture is like water for the fish. It sustains us. We live and breathe through it.”
It’s Not Too Late!
Who would want to miss out on seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and feeling the beautiful “world” around us?!
What about you? How big or how small is your worldview? Are your eyes open to the world or do you feel like you are missing something out there? Would you like to expand your global tapestry and develop your own cultural awareness? If so, it’s not too late!
It doesn’t matter how mono-cultural your environment might be, you can still put on your cultural glasses today and start seeing the world around you.
Stay tuned for “Why is it Important to Have Cultural Awareness?” and the four degrees and stages of cultural awareness.
—The Cultural Story-Weaver
MY GIFT TO YOU—GET YOUR FREE EBOOK—“THE 5-DAY JOURNEY TO CULTURAL AWARENESS”!
Let’s Weave Cultures!
Do you feel like your eyes are open to the world around you? Do you feel that you are culturally UNaware or culturally aware?
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.
When I traveled to Scandinavia in the early 1970s, I went with a group of teachers who ‘Americanized’ my trip. There was very little ‘culturization’ that occurred except for one evening when I went to the lounge after dinner. There I met some Danish women who told me what life and work and family was like in their country. When I came home, I tried to incorporate some of the customs I had learned. I served artistically built ‘smorrebrod’ to lunch guests, and tried akvavit and herring as an appetizer at a party, which didn’t go over very well. No one wanted to eat their pizza with a knife and fork. As time went on, my sister married an Army man and I was able to visit her multiple times when they were stationed in overseas. Getting out onto the open road, meandering around Europe, stopping at a gesthaus without a reservation and enjoying zuppa for dinner was a wonderful and inexpensive way to see the countries, but the best part was that we were mixing with the people, the villagers, and weren’t isolated, as in a tour. I’m guessing that when our friends from overseas come here, they have much the same ‘culture shock’ as we do.