Learning

Sometimes people learn better from graphics. 

I don't know the originator of these graphics - they have been shared on the internet such that attribution has fallen away so if anyone knows, let me know in the comments and I will edit this post accordingly.

The first one I saw was the top one, the bottom one I saw late last night (insomnia, how I loathe thee).

Over the years I have worked at overcoming my personal 'reality bubble'.  At first I didn't realize what I was doing, I just read everything I could get my hands on.  But that reading introduced me to the grey of most of human interaction.  I was exposed (if you will) to other cultures, other perspectives on history, stories of people who had different lived experiences to mine.

So we sit, each and every one of us, in a 'comfort zone' where we know the rules and how to navigate through the society we live in - as best we can.

As a white person, growing up in a majority white Euro-centric society, I learned a particular set of societal norms.  Which got stood on their heads when I lived for three months in Sweden.  Another majority white Euro-centric society but one with some rather different societal norms.

Since I have a very 'European' look about me (French-Canadian mother, German identifying father) so long as I kept my mouth shut people around me had no idea I *wasn't* Swedish.  Which meant for some serious stumbles on my part and confusion on theirs.

Having no other option than to move forward as best I could, no matter how frightened I was, I found an inner core of strength I didn't know I possessed. 

That strength was pushed down until I forgot I had it but it was there for me to draw on when needed. 

Having experienced a different society, been exposed to other lived experiences vicariously, being aware that some people had a hard time because of the colour of their skin, I have slowly been working at moving out of my comfort zone.

I won't say I don't see colour.  Of course I do.  But I will say that I have been working at not making colour the defining quality of any person I interact with.

On the above charts, I would say that I have been moving through the 'fear' zone and am now in the 'learning' zone.

There are days when I catch myself reverting to the fear zone.  When I feel the fear I calm myself, ask what I am afraid of, then decide if the fear is for a real threat or if I have been triggered by something - a word usually.  Because that is how emotional trigger words work - they bring up the fear in an effort to control your response to something.

I won't claim to be entirely in the Growth Zone in part because tearing down systemic attitudes is a lifelong task. 

All I can do is keep trying.

If you want to work on your own 'reality bubble' there are resources available.  Anti-racist resources have been  posted on Facebook and Twitter (and likely other places) or just Google it. 

To learn, listening must happen.  Time to listen, now.  Time to learn, now.