World Affairs
I walked into a familiar building and was surprised to feel an unusual atmosphere. I found mostly new faces. From the first few rounds of eaves-dropping in on conversations, I got the essence of the vibe. It had to do about racism.
As much as I want to change racism, I know it is a complex issue and it shows up in small ways. In all its confusion, it is not just about the color of someone’s skin. Mixed in there are sub-cultural assumptions and preferences.
For example, my brother came back from a trip to Finland and brought the Scandinavian favorite candy which is black licorice filled with white cream. Right then and there I am in disagreement about what the best candy is in the world is, and I am wondering why they like it. Clearly they are crazy!!!
I grew up in a Finnish subculture and I have to say that it has been a challenge to find things I like about it. Okay, I do like real saunas. And I do really value independence with all that is in me. And I do like the national identity of “sisu” which means endurance or guts. But I don’t like the stoicism and stubbornness and practicality of everything. But then I notice the weakness is just the flip side of the strengths.
In all honestly, I like some things about the black subculture. It is just a fact, that in general, black people have more rhythm than white people. They clap on the right beat and white people clearly are off beat. I don’t know how that happened. Nobody would deny that almost all black men know how to dance and it is a rare white man who can dance fantastically.
Black culture is on the opposite side of the spectrum from Finnish culture when it comes to introversion. I’m talking about ‘the culture’ because there are extroverts and introverts in every culture and even those tendencies are expressed in culturally specific ways.
Finnish people have to be so careful with what they say because Finns will ‘take you at your word.’ You better ‘say what you mean and mean what you say.’ That’s why there is a lot of silence because you could get ostracized for lying. In other cultures there is much more grace. You only speak if you have something important or weighty to say otherwise you remain silent and Finns are comfortable with silence.
If I dare say so, and in comparison ‘exaggeration’ is alright in the African-American culture. You could also call it expressiveness. It comes out in how they sing and talk and dance and walk and joke.
Extending that last in a note in a song so it is as long as it can go is a taste and a style that is unique to that subculture. If you bring it into other cultures it can be enjoyed to a certain extent but you can’t force it on the majority culture. First of all they are not used to it, and secondly it is a preference. Remember the black licorice. All Scandinavians come to American bearing gifts of black licorice and the first reaction of their hosts is a hesitant grimace. Let the misunderstandings begin…
Finnish humor is much more subtle than any other kind of humor. Self-deprecation is the mode to the point that other cultures think that we have no self esteem. But really, we “know” when we are joking yet others are not sure if they should laugh or give us a counseling session. The wit comes so quick and brief that only a Finn may catch it. Others may feel that they are missing the ‘inside joke’ and only catch the laughter. This can lead others to feel like outsiders if they don’t learn the comedy style.
My black friends are all artistic; that is our common subculture. We speak the language of creativity and we can band together about how the central part of culture doesn’t understand us fringe-ites. Sometimes because of the pangs of rejection we flip things around and tell each other that we are the superior ones when really we just want to be validated and understood. We are just feeling lonely and unloved by the masses but not with each other. Well, sometimes there is jealousy and rivalry and competition but that’s just not really 'the way of art' because we all are striving to be unique.
For the most part we don’t mind the isolation because creativity grows in solitude but we also want what we contribute to be embraced. Since we are broken and since we are still in the process of mastering our skills, the response to our gifts is not consistently welcoming at times.
We also can be hard on ourselves and wonder if the words of affirmation that pour forth are really real and not trite. When we are ‘in process’ it is hard to discern.
When we have arrived at some competency those words don’t mean much. This is because we have developed the art of being internally driven. We may have taken a real beating to get to that point but we have survived and are stronger because of it.
If we can let go, like Joseph, of all the trouble that happened to us along the way than we have birthed our Manasseh. We can say that what others mean for evil, God used for good. The Christian’s who were supposed to be ‘Christ to us’ were not and we can let that go.
This ushers in the ruling part of our life. Our colored-coat of promises kick forth and we birth another baby, like Joseph, which is fruitfulness. In Joseph’s case it was Ephraim. Despite our affliction, we grew strong, wise, and productive. We realize that it was God working in and through us. We lay it all down realizing that He has carried us all the way and will continue. A quiet confidence settles in and we can relax in God more and more.
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