Reflection On Culture

If, as Socrates claimed, an unexamined life is not worth living (Apology, circa. 399 BCE), then a well-examined life is well worth living.

As a sweet child of the 1960s, a rude teenager of the 1970s, and an older, though no wiser, man of the present, I must reflect on how my worldview has changed over the years. I will begin at the beginning when I first became self-aware. My history, geography, education, language, economic class, environment, religion, and societal customs of the first ten years of my self-awareness shall be the focus of my reflection.

I became self-aware while living in a small town in rural America where I was loved by a mother, a father, a big sister, and a big brother. Every summer, we would visit our paternal grandparents. My grandmother, Mamaw, must have been the meanest woman ever. Whenever Mamaw would see a man wearing long hair, she would nag, “Look at that long haired, pot-smoking, pill-popping hippie. He looks just like a girl. Disgusting!”

Mamaw had a friend, Gloria, a black lady who would come over and fix us lunch while Mamaw was at work. Gloria was the nicest lady ever and a really great cook.

Television was becoming popular around this time, and I learned how to watch the news. The Civil Rights Movement, the inner-city riots, the Vietnam war protests, and the hippie craze all cluttered the TV screen and clogged my mind, as well. I could not understand why so many people were protesting. The only black person I knew was Gloria, and she always seemed so nice and happy. I could not understand why people would not want to win the Vietnam War. Aren’t they bad guys? And those long-haired, pot smoking, pill-popping hippies were disgusting! Watching TV made me into a bigot. I was taught how to watch TV. I was never taught how to think.

When I began kindergarten, my dad was the senior science teacher and the bus driver for the country bus route where I lived. Consequently, I had to spend the whole day at school, waiting for my dad to get out of class and drive the bus home. All the other kindergarteners went for only half a day. I didn’t mind, though.  I learned how to read.

I don’t know if my dad had any economic struggles as a science teacher, but he chose to take a job at the Nevada Test Site near Las Vegas where the government used to test atom bombs. I know nothing about this job except that my family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. I started the first grade there and began to learn so much more.

We attended a Methodist church in Las Vegas. I did not understand anything about the faith except that going to church was very boring. Sometimes, my mother would choose not to go to church, but neither my siblings nor I were given that choice.

We moved into a neighborhood populated by nuclear scientists from all over the world who came to work at the Nevada test site doing their secret stuff. However, one family was different. They came from Spain, and they had a daughter about my age. Her name was Bianca, and I thought she was the cutest girl in the world. I wanted to talk to Bianca, but she could not speak English, and I could not speak Spanish. Sadly, the language barrier kept us apart.

My first decade of self-awareness was very stable. I can’t complain. I cannot say the same thing about the next decade, but that’s another story.

Multicultural Challenges or Opportunities in Employment

In 2017, soon after Trump took office, I got a job at a meat-packing factory where everyone except for one other person was from Latin America. Although I did not vote in 2016, I look like someone who might have voted for Trump. Trump supporters are not well-liked by many Latinos, and I could feel a lot of tension among the other workers. However, I really wanted to practice my Spanish. So, I started a small conversation with one of the other Latino workers. Once word got out that I could speak Spanish, everybody wanted to be my friends. I broke the barriers of languages, and I have to thank Bianca for her inspiration.

 

 

Reference

Plato. (circa. 399 BCE). Apology