Racism

Living in America has resulted in a paradigm shift in the way I think about different countries, religions, cultures, and people across the world. I had a lot of pre-conceived notions about America before living there, and most of these notions were negative. I was a proud Indian who looked down upon everything that was not Indian. Who could match up to our culture, our traditions, our values and our morals? Let me think... No one! I left for America with little respect for the country I was going to call home. Whenever I was faced with an unfamiliar situation, I was exasperated and exclaimed, "This is not the way we do things in India!" Which implicitly implied that the way we do things in India is right and the way things are done in the rest of the world is wrong.

As time passed, and I became used to the American way of life, I began realizing something... Not everything can be categorized into right or wrong. There is something in between which falls in the realm of subjective, which is neither right nor wrong, just different. It was a concept that needed getting used to. In India, everything is so black and white. If somebody doesn't think like you, they are just plain wrong! This fact is indisputable. I call it the 'I'm right, you're wrong' syndrome.

In America, I realized for the first time that life is full of shades of gray. The sooner you realize this, the happier you are as a person. Judging and hating are like two sides of the same coin. When you start judging, hating is not far behind. Considering yourself superior to others is a manifestation of a closed mind. The only one losing out when you do this is you!

When we talk about racism, we start pointing fingers at others, shouting about how morally decrepit the world has become, and how we are the only ones on earth who have anything of value left - our culture, our traditions. Little do we realize, that in doing so, we are no more the victims of racism, but the perpetrators of racism! Who is a racist? A person who scorns others, and thinks that he and his country, his religion, his culture, his ethnicity, is better than anyone else's. He is ignorant and narrow minded, and he refuses to accept differences, leave alone respect them.

And what's with our obsession with our culture? Do we think that we are the only country in the world which has a culture? If we do, I have to say that we couldn't be farther away from reality, almost delusional. Every country has a culture, which is different from our culture, but that definitely doesn't make it a 'bad' culture. That doesn't mean that all cultures are perfect. But, it also doesn't mean that our culture is perfect, and their isn't. All cultures have positives and negatives. The wise thing to do is to take the positives from other cultures and implement them, so that we all become better people. We are so defensive as a country. The moment anyone says something good about another country, we are quick to jump in, "But they don't have our traditions and culture." We really need to grow up. Well, we can continue to be under the illusion that our culture is the best, but we are going to be the one's who suffer for it, because the moment we think that we are perfect, we are going to stop evolving, while the rest of the world keeps its mind open and keeps progressing.