More Than a Lecture: Living a Culturally Humble Life

I love difference.  I love meeting and interacting with people who look different, think different speak different, and or live differently from me.  My mother would often times tell us that variety is the spice of life.  Never has that been truer when considering making connections across racial and cultural lines.  Your diversity adds to the sum balance of our whole, as a community.  May I never make someone feel small and unimportant because they show up differently from myself.

Imagine a world where you are invited to be you.  Not the you that makes other people comfortable, or is the 60% watered down version that can blend in and is palatable to all who consume that particular version.  But the full bold flavor of all of who you know yourself to be.  What a world that would be.  Operating as culturally humble beings helps to create and maintain environments that invite and welcome individuals to be just that.  The unadulterated full body version of self and have that person seen, heard, and valued.

Living life through culturally humble lens requires that we do a few things. First, we mut have a lifelong commitment to learning and critical self-reflection.  Next, we must desire to fix power imbalances within our relational dynamics.  Lastly, we must utilize institutional accountability and develop a mutual respectful partnership based on trust.  This may feel overwhelming or even beyond your reach, but the reality is, that you can choose to go on this journey today, just by the foods you eat, the entertainment that you consume, or the books you read.  

If you wanted to welcome someone into your culture, what would be the first thing that you would do?  Would you sit them down to a home cooked meal of cultural delicacies and treats?  Would you play an album that would captivate their spirits and whisk them to a place of joy and laughter that was painfully contagious?  Or would it simply start with the sharing of pictures and stories that paint an intricate tapestry of family history or triumph, setbacks, and victories?  Whatever it would be, these are techniques that you can use to begin to explore other cultures and groups.  Remain a student of life, always look for opportunities to learn and grow.

As it deals with fixing power imbalances, examine what power that you have and how you wield it.  Do you use your power to empower others and welcome them to the table of change, or do you silence those who do not perfectly align with you, and ignore those who you view as less than you?  There is so much power in not only inviting others to the table of change, but earnestly listening to them and attempting to incorporate their feedback.  None of us knows it all, and can all use support.  When we listen to and honor one another, all of us benefit.  There is power in collective unity.

Lastly, let us consider being accountable for our choices and actions and living in mutually respectful relationships.  Accountability is a necessity of life.  Without it, we are left to our own devices and can easily ignore the voices and needs of those who may be tasked to lead and or care for.  Accountability keeps us honest, and let’s be truthful, sometimes just knowing that others are watching and listening influences the decisions that we make.  As it deals with respect and trust, relationships built on mutual respect and trust have the ability and potential to make us all better people.  When I no longer choose what is only good for me, but make decisions that benefit us both, lines of communication remain open and free flowing so that we can all benefit.  Living and loving in community makes a difference.  Living a cultural humble life has the potential to connect us in ways that we have yet to imagine.