racial and national issues

One of the things that struck me the most while applying for a place in an north American university was that they always asked me, somewhere, about my race. They wanted to know if I was “white”, “latino” or any of the other multiple choices I was offered. I just didn’t know which box to cross out. Or worse, I didn’t even care. Mind you, I still don’t and I don’t think I ever will.

Today, while reading a very interesting article, all these memories came back to me and made think about the fact that there is a strikingly high percentage amount of people in the world that, on the contrary, do care about not only the “race” they belong to, but also the country they were born in. As if it had left some kind of permanent stamp on them and they couldn’t think about themselves without seeing themselves as belonging to that particular group.

The problem I see in this is that it promotes understanding differences in terms of communities instead of individuals. In some cases, with particular characteristics, it might be true that a certain culture can encourage some specific traits that can be traced in all the individuals of a place or race, but that happens the least of the times.

I personally think there are several disadvantages, so to say, in confronting life in that way. First of all, it prevents one to see the particular differences and, therefore, also the similarities that can bond people globally. Stemming from that, it endorses nationalism. So, saying that one’s origins are anyhow better than another can lead someone to conclude that other’s aren´t worth it the while. And, as we all know, that could be very dangerous. But, remaining in a closer level, it prevents people from enjoying life at its fullest.

What I mean is that there is so much outside still to be discovered, explored and relish that there is absolutely no point in remaining blinded by the walls of one’s own country or race’s superiority and virtues.

Of course there are differences across frontiers and seas, like they are in between people in general. But as it is harder sometimes to understand someone from your own town, someone that may even speak your own dialect, one can discover also how easy it is to comprehend someone raised by a complete different cultural system with a strange mother tongue. All it takes is to broaden one’s mind. To accept that there are differences, that they are even more interesting than the similitudes and just as acceptable and valid as one’s special features, is a humble act that everyone should try because it promotes love. And, as the song used to say, “all you (and we) need is…”

Specially now at days.