I came across this lovely meditation on his website. Given that I've been prone to ranting lately, I felt this would be quite beneficial to me and likely to many others out there.
Enjoy!
August 21, 2010
And the follow-up...
In my most recent search for more information on embracing Buddhism, I came across Jack Kornfield. He is an American who studied to became a Buddhist monk. That is all I'm willing to write, as I haven't done a ton of research and I don't want to get any of his information wrong.
August 15, 2010
Discrimination, what discrimination?
This is a post that I started a long time ago in which I was ranting about the very same topic that I sat down to rant about tonight. I will address the fact that I don't want to be ranting all the time in an oncoming post. (The one that I started writing tonight but couldn't finish as I couldn't bring the words together.)
Sigh. I'm ranting again. But this time, it's something that is quite seriously wrong with our country. What could that be, you ask?
Racism. It exists in our country. True to Canadian culture, it's not overt, but it courses beneath the surface, showing its ugly face in debates that allow it hide its true nature. For example, the government is currently toying with the idea of changing the national anthem. It would like to make the language more gender neutral and remove references to God. This has brought all sorts of vitriol about how yeah, sure, we have religious freedom, but most of us are Christian so we should just stick with that. *Scratches head* How the heck does that work? Our country is not a religious one. Religion and state are separate in Canada. And we all are free to practice whatever religion we please.
I particularly enjoy how those who insist that our society has become too politically correct and accommodating have never experienced any sort of racial discrimination. "Old" Canadians enjoy telling new Canadians to suck it up and accept the new country that they've come to, seemingly expecting complete assimilation. What I find interesting, and something that people often miss, is that the vast majority of immigrants that I know personally have done everything they can to integrate into Canadian culture. Most of them would not ask for any special consideration and would say that they came here because they wanted to be Canadian. You rarely hear that come up when the immigrant bashing comes up, though.
I've been fortunate enough in my life to have experienced the other side. I've been the newcomer to a country and understand what it is like to be on the outside looking in. At first, you don't know what the cultural norms are, and just do what's normal for you. It can take many years to learn the nuances of culture and even after many years, it is often impossible to master. I have felt the sting of people assuming I'm stupid because I haven't learnt the language yet or because I inadvertently committed some social gaffe.
...
This is where I stopped. Racism hurts - you more than anyone else. Peace.
Sigh. I'm ranting again. But this time, it's something that is quite seriously wrong with our country. What could that be, you ask?
Racism. It exists in our country. True to Canadian culture, it's not overt, but it courses beneath the surface, showing its ugly face in debates that allow it hide its true nature. For example, the government is currently toying with the idea of changing the national anthem. It would like to make the language more gender neutral and remove references to God. This has brought all sorts of vitriol about how yeah, sure, we have religious freedom, but most of us are Christian so we should just stick with that. *Scratches head* How the heck does that work? Our country is not a religious one. Religion and state are separate in Canada. And we all are free to practice whatever religion we please.
I particularly enjoy how those who insist that our society has become too politically correct and accommodating have never experienced any sort of racial discrimination. "Old" Canadians enjoy telling new Canadians to suck it up and accept the new country that they've come to, seemingly expecting complete assimilation. What I find interesting, and something that people often miss, is that the vast majority of immigrants that I know personally have done everything they can to integrate into Canadian culture. Most of them would not ask for any special consideration and would say that they came here because they wanted to be Canadian. You rarely hear that come up when the immigrant bashing comes up, though.
I've been fortunate enough in my life to have experienced the other side. I've been the newcomer to a country and understand what it is like to be on the outside looking in. At first, you don't know what the cultural norms are, and just do what's normal for you. It can take many years to learn the nuances of culture and even after many years, it is often impossible to master. I have felt the sting of people assuming I'm stupid because I haven't learnt the language yet or because I inadvertently committed some social gaffe.
...
This is where I stopped. Racism hurts - you more than anyone else. Peace.
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