Building
Bridges
We are in the midst of some trying times, fear of others
different from ourselves is creating major divides in the way we engage
with each other.
For most of us this is a huge shift in the paradigm we were
raised in. It seems that throughout history every tribe/culture/family
has made a strong point to stay amongst themselves. Dating outside of the
‘tribe’ was frowned upon, much less creating friendships, business
partnerships, marriages, etc. Those may have been the best rules
available at the time - but, the world is changing and getting smaller where we
are exposed to people who are ‘different’ from us on our social media sites as
well in off line worlds. Next time you go to the mall - notice the
number of different cultures and cross culture relationships walking passed
you. It is very different than my memories of trips to the mall
twenty/thirty years ago. I grew up in a very segregated city and
my first experience with a black person was at 15 years old. There were
no other people of color in my school, people with disabilities were schooled
elsewhere, people of different religions did not make it known they were different.
I believe that these experiences were more harmful in that
countless numbers of us never could develop an understanding and acceptance of
all people and then/now blindly follow the rants of ‘leaders’ that we should
fear them. In a country that was founded on religious freedoms and that
has welcomed people of all nations - the trends are alarming and perhaps this
Bridge Building exercise can be helpful and healing.
To read the rest of this post and learn about Building Bridges, join my new Habits
group on Facebook.