At night, the park is the kind of place they drop off dead bodies. But during a sunny holiday afternoon, it is the epitome of innocent fun, and healthy diversity. So I’m sorry if what I write sounds like stereotypes – it is merely observation.
For some reason that I haven’t figured out, there is a significant Russian presence most weekend afternoons. Actually, I’m not positive it is Russian, but it sounds similar to me. From end to end of the park I pass cluster after cluster of fair-skinned families speaking some sort of Eastern European language. They don’t seem to interact with anyone else, but will exchange a pleasant nod when you pass, except for the adolescents, who have clearly learned the art of snobby condescension from their American peers. The Russians walk on the paths and sit on the benches, and sometimes play soccer. Cars with diplomatic license plates are sprinkled through the parking lot.
The African Americans generally gravitate to the picnic tables, sharing a barbeque with family and friends. The teens play basketball rather than soccer. The picnic area is often decorated with party streamers, or with a church banner. Huge aluminum trays of food are transferred from the SUVs, (which have music pounding with a deafening bass).
The Asians are a smaller presence. The children are tiny and polite, and obey their parents when they are told to not wander too far.
Most of the Caucasian Americans are usually there only to walk their dogs – the joggers and serious walkers visit earlier in the day. An occasional father tries to teach his son to ride a two-wheeler. The eternal tension between safety and letting go is played out time and time again.
But on a holiday weekend there are different populations. On Memorial Day, there was a huge crowd ready to watch a Chinese puppet show between the tennis courts and the softball field.
As I continued my walk, I passed the pavilion I saw big banners announcing that it was reserved by the Church of Christ of Israel. I was curious since I wasn’t familiar with that church, so I paused to observe, only to be glared at by a man who was clearly guarding the reserved area. As I walked away I was puzzled to hear what sounded like Salsa music blaring out over the apparently African American crowd. I couldn’t quite figure out what the group was.
Continuing around the parking lot, I encountered an ancient Chinese man, who gave me a smile and a small bow, and courteously greeted me with ‘Ni Hao’. I was pleased to realize that my two words of Chinese were enough to recognize what he was saying, so I paused to return his bow (a little deeper, in honor of his age), and say ‘Ni Hao’ back to him.
Passing the playground I noticed that the little children were the most integrated. They weren’t seated in the isolated clusters of the grownups, but happily played together, without regard for whether they spoke the same language or had the same color of skin or the same shaped face.
On the way back past the picnic area, I heard beautiful singing. It was familiar, yet I couldn’t quite place it at first. Finally I realized that I was hearing “How Great Thou Art”, sung in Korean. They definitely got my award for the best music of the day!
I hardly heard a word of English on my whole walk, yet the overall effect was very American to me.
11 comments:
Ann, you definitely have a gift for cross-cultural missions. Ever thought of being a full-time missionary? (Not that you aren't one now. But just a thought.)
Are you kidding? I think I'm terrible. The Indians at work are always glad when I want to try their food, and people of every nationality usually enjoy it if I learn a word in their language, but on a more fundamental level I can't even figure out or relate to my OWN culture, much less someone else's.
And one big sticking point is that I usually can't stand the music. I mean I can't even take it seriously. I'm not referring to any particular style here, but I've got unfortunately narrow taste. Parenthetically, that was also a handicap for a career as a musicologist!
No, I'm not kidding, woman. You exhibit a great respect and sensitivity to other cultures and an ability to adapt. Frequently, people with missionary gifting have more in common with other cultures than their own. I'm just thinking out loud.
To comment about your comment "...but will exchange a pleasant nod when you pass, except for the adolescents, who have clearly learned the art of snobby condescension from their American peers.", I think you really ought to cut a little slack for the adolescents out there in order to be fair and unbiased. There has been quite a bit of recent research conducted using functional magnetic resonanace imaging (fMRI) of adolescent brains during various stages of growth, that clearly demonstrates that there is some significant neuron restructuring going on in the pre-frontal cortex of the adolescent brain. Thus the pre-frontal cortex of the adolescent brain is still being developed, and its social capacities should not be compared with a fully developed adult brain such as yours. Since it is the governing dynamics of the pre-frontal cortex region of the brain that can influence mood and social behavior.
I'll try to 'cut them some slack' as you suggested, but the snotty condescension is really hard to take.
And I'm glad to admit that I've met some really terrific teens recently, so I know that the snottiness is not a universal characteristic.
I also give adolescents credit for dreaming big dreams and wanting to change the world.
Does cutting them some slack include giving them driving licenses?
Yikes, that's a hard one. I haven't studied all the pros and cons to have a fully reasoned argument, but here are some of my thoughts:
Way too many teens are dying in car accidents. This is a bad thing.
Most studies I have read conclude that the more teens are in one car, the more likely it is to be in an accident.
I believe that jurisdictions that offer some sort of graduated license find their teen death rate to go down. So I'm interested in hearing proposals along those lines.
Because the accident cause is rarely one of pure skill, rather it is one of judgement. Combine the lack of experience and judgement with the phase of brain development that leads teens to feelings of invincibility, and risky behavior is common.
Of course, similar arguments could be made for raising the age at which one could be admitted into the armed services. Usually the argument is backwards -- people argue that if teens can be sent to war they should be able to drive. I would turn the argument around and say that if teens don't have the judgement and maturity to drive, maybe we shouldn't send them to war, either.
Hmm. So maybe all those chopper crashes and friendly fire casualties can be chalked up to rowdy teens? Naw, I'm just kidding. But I would vote for no driver's license before 18. That would save a lot of lives-- and not just teens'.
Who started this?
Nobody in particular. It appears that it all started from an unwelcome display of snobby condescension in the park one day.
Ummm back to you being a missionary... Sometimes how we see us and how others see us are two different things. I happen to agree with Steve on this Ann. You are very sensitive to others and put great effort in understanding others. Even if YOU feel uncomfortable at this you are good at it.
you guys are too gracious to me.
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