Sometimes I look around and wonder about people. Where did that scar come from? As I sat in a plane, I saw a military man fast asleep. How long had it been since he felt safe enough to catch a good amount of sleep?
And then I can't help but wonder what my life would be like if I wasnt... Me. What if I swam instead of danced? What if I had one parent? Would my life be much different if I had been diagnosed with epilepsy?
I'm absolutely certain that we could learn so much if we had the power, time, and ability to walk in others' shoes, if only for a day. You couldn't honestly tell me segregation would have proceeded to such an extreme had white Americans the opportunity to walk in a worn-down, beaten-up pair of shoes. I say that because I watched a video that suggested the same notion this morning. There was a study in a small white, Catholic town with a population of less than 1000. Third graders were told that blue-eyed people were better than brown-eyed people, and they should treat them as lesser people. The study flipped roles the next day and eventually, students were torn up about the discrimination and even called each other "brown-eyes" or "blue-eyes". In the end, the white children learned not to pass judgements based on the color of someone's skin.
So if third graders can throw out a life's worth of racism in less than two days, how much else can change with experience? To what extent do we have the ability to understand others? To see from different perspectives?
I wonder, if faced with the opportunity, who would you like to be for a day?
Would you be afraid to change the way you've seen/understood the world?
I'm not saying it's a good thing, but I just might.
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| Dyslexic |
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| Walk in someone else's shoes |
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| Which one do you see? Old lady or girl? |
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