I met a new culture and it was alien to me. So much so that I thought of the Pod People (also known as Body Snatchers, a species of plant-like aliens featured in the 1955 novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney and the 1956 movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers). It was one that I wanted to understand and quite frankly couldn’t ignore. Maybe you’ve felt this way too.
So how bring a new culture into your comfort zone from your discomfort zone? My thoughts…Take it on like a new course that you are studying – the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of the people of that culture and how they interact together. Approach it with the curiosity and intensity of a researcher. Ask questions. Watch and learn. Read. Listen and observe. Notice the way the people dress, talk and use words…their music, commitments, fears, challenges, use of technology and any other aspect that drives them. Your new cultural awareness could be about a generation, gender, race, industry, or corporation… If you are feeling those in that culture are alien to you, that they are using different meanings behind the same words – learn and appreciate their words and ways.
And as you learn more, do more, and sincerely question, you will be creating a bridge of empathy between you and “the others”. Your understanding makes you a truly unique person.
