Cultural appreciation
5:25 PM
So yesterday my Exceptional Learners class had another great guest lecturer come and speak to us. This woman was doing some interesting research in the Philippines trying to discover the healing power of music in Philippino tradition. Though she taught us a little about Philippino traditional music and medicine we talked mostly about cultural acceptance and I feel many Americans lack this acceptance.
As everyone already knows there are many different perspectives of medicine and the human condition between the East and West. Here in the West we try to dissect each part of a medical PROBLEM and try to solve it. Notice my emphasis on medical problem. We always look at any medical condition in a negative context. Our medical vocabulary such as disease, cancer, disability, growth, chronic and virus. Yucky, those words are all horrible things and anytime you hear them you are sympathetic with anyone who has it and deep down inside you're happy that you don't have to deal with that problem. So whenever we think about medicine we think problem. Come on the only time that you go to the doctor is if you have a problem. Am I right? And whenever you need a check up you always put it off.
In the east it is a little different. They look at medicine as a product of the spirit, problem and the mind. The easterners have rituals on a constant basis and try to prevent the disease, quite the opposite of the West. In the traditional Philippines they have the Shaman or the Medicine Man/woman and the lecturer described many ways that use to heal. Music has actually been a part of the healing process for hundreds and hundreds of years and each tribe has their unique tradition and singing style. However, when the Spanish Conquestidors, the Japanese and the US colonized them they shunned their practices of medicine and tradition.
New problems arise for these tribes men and women. Their tradition is in danger because the new man shuns their identity, practices, culture and language. That is absolutely the worst thing you can do to hurt a person, knock their identity and tradition. We as humans hold our identity very close to ourselves because we don't want our language, culture and ideals to die because even though we will die, we know that our culture and language will last and last. Once that is in attack we get infuriated. However, we as Americans have killed the native American's identity. We should open our eyes to other cultures because #1 we can learn so much from their culture #2 we respect that person and their ideas. We as Americans have no respect for other people and their culture.
America also has their own problems as well. We as a nation have only been around for a couple of hundred of years and we are a melting pot of cultures. So many of us are unable to relate to people in the same way as someone say from a remote part of Africa. They have a sense of community that we could never possess. So as a part of our culture we lack identity. We always seem to struggle and never attain a true sense of self while other people in remote parts of the world are able to attain this or come closer. We rush to keep ourselves busy because if we are not we are worthless and we have no sense of self or identity. I have seen this in many people and I sure can say I suffer from this as well.
People ask what is my heritage and I kindly say I don't know. It's cool that other people can say I am from here and point it out on a map. I can't do that. I have to say I'm American, but that doesn't inspire national pride in myself. Americans are hated all over the world because of our foreign intervention, our political system is not what it says it is (not really democracy), corruption, business is dirty and American dream is dressed up by the cohorts of big banks draining money out of the poorest people while they get richer and richer. I hate that. Also, Americans are the fattest, most ignorant, laziest people on the face of the planet. We have no huge history as well.
Though I despise certain parts of our nation, I still love it for many reasons but I have been open to other cultures as well. I think many people here are unreceptive to other cultures and they miss out on finding their true self and respect the people around them. I can speak, read and write Korean and have been receptive to Korean culture. It's funny because even though I know very little of the language and culture, many Koreans say that I'm Korean. They sure can speak English better than I can speak Korean and know a lot about American culture but they accept me because I respect their identity.
I think the moral of this essay is that we must be receptive of other cultures to show respect and it might lead to a higher realization of our own identity. There are many perspectives on the same idea good and bad. We must take the good from every culture and not shun them. If we narrowly think we are better we have not attained a part of our self realization.
As everyone already knows there are many different perspectives of medicine and the human condition between the East and West. Here in the West we try to dissect each part of a medical PROBLEM and try to solve it. Notice my emphasis on medical problem. We always look at any medical condition in a negative context. Our medical vocabulary such as disease, cancer, disability, growth, chronic and virus. Yucky, those words are all horrible things and anytime you hear them you are sympathetic with anyone who has it and deep down inside you're happy that you don't have to deal with that problem. So whenever we think about medicine we think problem. Come on the only time that you go to the doctor is if you have a problem. Am I right? And whenever you need a check up you always put it off.
In the east it is a little different. They look at medicine as a product of the spirit, problem and the mind. The easterners have rituals on a constant basis and try to prevent the disease, quite the opposite of the West. In the traditional Philippines they have the Shaman or the Medicine Man/woman and the lecturer described many ways that use to heal. Music has actually been a part of the healing process for hundreds and hundreds of years and each tribe has their unique tradition and singing style. However, when the Spanish Conquestidors, the Japanese and the US colonized them they shunned their practices of medicine and tradition.
New problems arise for these tribes men and women. Their tradition is in danger because the new man shuns their identity, practices, culture and language. That is absolutely the worst thing you can do to hurt a person, knock their identity and tradition. We as humans hold our identity very close to ourselves because we don't want our language, culture and ideals to die because even though we will die, we know that our culture and language will last and last. Once that is in attack we get infuriated. However, we as Americans have killed the native American's identity. We should open our eyes to other cultures because #1 we can learn so much from their culture #2 we respect that person and their ideas. We as Americans have no respect for other people and their culture.
America also has their own problems as well. We as a nation have only been around for a couple of hundred of years and we are a melting pot of cultures. So many of us are unable to relate to people in the same way as someone say from a remote part of Africa. They have a sense of community that we could never possess. So as a part of our culture we lack identity. We always seem to struggle and never attain a true sense of self while other people in remote parts of the world are able to attain this or come closer. We rush to keep ourselves busy because if we are not we are worthless and we have no sense of self or identity. I have seen this in many people and I sure can say I suffer from this as well.
People ask what is my heritage and I kindly say I don't know. It's cool that other people can say I am from here and point it out on a map. I can't do that. I have to say I'm American, but that doesn't inspire national pride in myself. Americans are hated all over the world because of our foreign intervention, our political system is not what it says it is (not really democracy), corruption, business is dirty and American dream is dressed up by the cohorts of big banks draining money out of the poorest people while they get richer and richer. I hate that. Also, Americans are the fattest, most ignorant, laziest people on the face of the planet. We have no huge history as well.
Though I despise certain parts of our nation, I still love it for many reasons but I have been open to other cultures as well. I think many people here are unreceptive to other cultures and they miss out on finding their true self and respect the people around them. I can speak, read and write Korean and have been receptive to Korean culture. It's funny because even though I know very little of the language and culture, many Koreans say that I'm Korean. They sure can speak English better than I can speak Korean and know a lot about American culture but they accept me because I respect their identity.
I think the moral of this essay is that we must be receptive of other cultures to show respect and it might lead to a higher realization of our own identity. There are many perspectives on the same idea good and bad. We must take the good from every culture and not shun them. If we narrowly think we are better we have not attained a part of our self realization.
I think we talked about this the night we took that walk along the Charles. I said something about taking in the positive aspects of every culture and combining them into something that is me, rather than identifying myself with just simply American or Vietnamese. I'm everything in terms of cultural values. I'm even a bit Mexican and Puerto Rican and German and Norwegian, etc. =]