And always recognize they must stay in position of learner if they want to grow into a unique but not more special place as a member of a new community!
As Jeff has pointed out to the obvious demographic this was written for, you move somewhere not your country, you have to ASSUME a position of an outsider. Doesn’t matter for me either who doesn’t relate to the stuff on this page, whether I look more like local or grew up on an island or used to no AC/major typhoons/water rationing/history-haunting/every day a crosscultural situation day, or even among best friends, classmates, teachers, non-blood ohana from the HI Islands, if I move to Hawai’i I gotta realize I’m moving to another country. I feel like a lot of Americans here in the mainland think Hawai’i is their country and are entitled to all that would hypothetically entail but I’m sorry, it’s the US on one level but it also isn’t and it really doesn’t matter how rational https://paydayloansnc.com/cities/mount-olive/ you think your politics are, if you are an outsider and experience life as a foreign person in a country not their nation, this does NOT equate “racisim” or “bigotry” or the language I keep hearing. You’re not being rejected because people treat you as an outsider, or who actually have ultimate power over you do something you perceive as prejudiced, you’re not from say and you should ASSUME that you don’t speak the same language. You’re not judged or misjudged (right perception or not) because someone is blaming you for something you feel you have no connection or responsibility for; you are connected, you are a part of a wide tapestry or multilayered tangle of history that absolutely affects you and those around you, and perhaps the topic is not even responsibility, but understanding beyond your worldview that clashes with theirs.
You can visit or even move there, but it’s not a bad thing to accept being an alien immigrant or resident
Just like if you as a white person (and yes, I include white Americans claiming indigenous ancestry even if genetically valid, if there is no cultural connection that impacts how you move through the world; not discounting ethnicity but I’m speaking of actual cultural ties) were to say grow up on some rez or move there to work as an adult, you aren’t entitled to be welcomed with open arms just b/c you believe you’re on ‘American soil’…you hopefully wouldn’t expect everybody to have the same culture as you or see it as dominant/better, or to talk to you and treat you in the same cultural way as you’re used to or feel you have the right to. Being a minority in my own passport country and having been a foreigner in what Americans call a foreign country, I’m not bitter about not ever having a position in life where I haven’t had to deal with cross-cultural clashes or issues, it’s just how it is. I don’t blame someone who hasn’t ever had to be in that position. But it does hurt/frustrate that I so often find people with this kind of amazing power they’re ignorant of being blessed with being shocked and offended when they move to another land and discover they aren’t being welcomed with open armed but-of-course we’ll just see you through your own cultural lense! Or shocked that their idea of an entitlement to equality (I mean on a social level, not innate level) is a problem. I find it frustrating (albeit understandable) that there isn’t a realization that the actual given in context should be that if they want to be an integrated foreigner, they’ll have to make serious effort to commit to adapt, be silent more than they like, be humble instead of carrying on expecting others to make the changes, accept discomfort as more normal than assumed, not draw quick conclusions but always assume there is more to the story or bigger picture…and yet never make any other direct assumptions about people or culture or How Things Are. This isn’t in the category of hardship or unfairness, but if it feels that way, then as Jeff says, it’s just not for you; please enjoy where you are, or where you can culturally integrate with ease, and be grateful you can live there! It’s a true blessing!
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