Difference and acceptance.

I enjoy social issues. What intrigues me much in regards to this topic of discussion is perhaps the issue of race and ethnicity. Being a minority in the States, this matter is obviously relevant. But now being in Eastern Europe, I often think about my identity within a completely different culture, world. Walking through the streets of Budapest, I receive more stares from the locals than I do in the States. Meeting people is difficult—even when I do meet individuals, I feel as if a special treatment is given; perhaps based on my own ignorance. What goes through their mind, I cannot fathom. Perhaps it is simply the fact of seeing a person who looks so much different walking around the streets. Perhaps there is negative or even positive judgment. But what does this matter?

Tonight I had a very interesting, meaningful conversation with a friend. Him, being a Venezuelan studying in the States some nine years back, he expressed his experiences being in very uncomfortable situations, where complete regard towards him was non-existent. Often times, he was judged based on his political beliefs, his religious views, and possibly his race. He mentioned to me a very interesting point, perhaps even a new one to me. Often times, in the States, when I am glared at, treated differently, etc… I exert anger, hostility, misunderstanding, and perhaps even ignorance on my part. But what my friend stated reflected the response to such prejudices. Everywhere we go—my friend to Viet Nam, the States, Hungary; me to Venezuela, Sudan, New Zealand—discrimination is present, but how we respond to it is much more important. To feel anger and hatred simply does nothing, except replicate the feelings pushed towards us. To deal with such issues in an understanding way, we are able to really conceptualize why such hostilities are present. To understand their ignorance and learn from it is far more beneficial than to simply create a sense of hate.

Being a minority possibly everywhere where I go, and feeling a sense of discrimination wherever I am at, I often think about the minorities here in Budapest and Hungary in general. A brief discussion of Gypsies arose during class discussions today. They are often viewed as lazy, creating their own social problems due to not taking advantage of the opportunities given to them. But to view them in this light simply reiterates the notion of ascribing ethnocentric meaning to society—creating a hierarchal ladder of individuals. Comparable to my own experience and to my friend’s, this theory, or viewpoint translates the idea of cultural understanding or there lack of. We must look at not the reasons why people are different based in relation to each other, but simply through the lens of precedent perhaps, or rather history. We all are different than one another not simply because of the constitutive other, but perhaps because of our environmental situations. I am different than a Hungarian because I experienced a Vietnamese-American culture; them a Hungarian one. In the States, I am a minority, and the racial discrimination towards minorities is profound, but to feel hostile and become enraged by this leads to somewhat of a confirmation or even acceptance of the circumstance. To return to the discussion of the minorities of Hungary, we are able to really understand the reasons why people who fall into this category are viewed as they are—partly ignorance, partly comparisons to self.

Simply put, we all are minorities in one way or another, but to view it negatively; we lose the opportunity to learn from our experiences. We each learn from our own given situation. However bad it may seem, some positive will eventually arise. Yet this does not translate to tolerance.

Until later.

Tran.quy.hac