I walked to the post office today and saw a couple of my students on the way. They said hi and I waved back, which naturally brought laughing because, well, I did something. Then, I let them enter the post office first, saying "Faz favor", and as they entered, they mockingly repeated it. Right in front of me. It's not just a lack of respect. It's a lack of thinking that I am a human being. I'm so weird to them that none of the feelings that they associate with humanity could really apply to me. Granted, this isn't everyone, but a good number of my students act this way.
And I am weird. I don't use violence to release my frustration and anger. I show up every day and teach full lessons. I emphasize understanding the material and not memorizing it. I speak from a different place in the body and use different ideas because my mind seeks to explain itself differently. I sit and wait for the class to be quiet instead of yelling over them. I ask them to answer questions in their own words. They're allowed to say "I don't know" to a question. I catch most of the crap they try to pull, but I don't always let on right away. I am an alien, but one who wants desperately to just get past it.
We're spoiled in the States because we are exposed to many different cultures, however "artificial" and capitalized our culture has become. Differences are differences, and yes they're weird and funny, but we accept them and move on.
However, when someone comes along who threatens us because of their fundamental unchangeable being, we methodically try and tear them apart to see that they, too, are in fact human. But where does that leave us?
Peace
John
