There is no such thing as a perfectly objective viewpoint. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do everything we can to see reality and not stereotypes. Today I would like to share two stories with you. The first one is true — I lived it. And the second is a children’s story.
There is no foreigner
I had an eye-opening experience on my first day working for Rotary International. With Rotary clubs in more than 180 nations, we had to be aware of a wide variety of national law that affected members’ abilities to make payments for things like congress registration fees and hotel deposits. It was my task to draft a letter explaining that since our organization was based in the United States, we recommended payment from Americans to be handled by check. Then I set out to explain how we expected foreign Rotarians to make their payments in ways which were consistent with local laws and did not cause us to incur exorbitant transfer fees.
Because this instruction was going out to members worldwide, my boss asked to review it. I must admit that I felt a bit like I was back in school when my letter was returned to me with a large red circle around the word “foreign” and the margin note which asked me “In an international organization who are the foreigners?” I immediately saw the error of my ways. I was looking at the organization’s membership with purely American eyes. The error was easy enough to correct and it provided a lesson that has served me well ever since: think global.
The Blue Glasses
I would like to tell you a children’s story now.
Girls and boys, once upon a time on a planet far from here all the people who lived there wore blue glasses from the moment they were born and continuing for their entire lives. They didn’t take them off when they showered and they didn’t take them off when they slept. They looked at their entire world all the time through blue glasses.
One of them, let’s call him Brap, became very curious about whether people on other planets also wore blue glasses. So Brap built a spaceship, said farewell to his family and friends and rocketed off in search of another occupied planet. Brap found what he was looking for and landed. People on that planet were very excited to see Brap. He noticed with great interest that they were all wearing yellow glasses. Brap asked for and was given a pair of yellow glasses. After walking around for several days with these different glasses, Brap became homesick. Leaving the yellow glasses behind as Brap said farewell to the new friends and headed home. Upon Brap’s arrival everyone was excited and they all asked “What was it like?”, whereupon Brap said “Everything was green”.
Final Thoughts
I am aware that I evolved in the decades I have lived in Germany, one proof of which is that upon my visits home people often say “You’re so German now!” But when I’m in Germany and meet a stranger, they often quickly say “Oh, you’re American!” I guess I am some sort of hybrid, no longer typically American but never to become totally German. And that’s okay with me. I like being unique and I work hard to nurture those American characteristics I admire and blend them with those German characteristics I admire and have worked hard to make mine. I have not and cannot shed my American glasses, but I see my German world with a blend of American and German glasses.
Herb