Thursday, April 03, 2008

Vive Les Differentes!

When I chatted with my Y!360 friend, I got a funny thing to laugh at.
Definitely, every culture in the world is different. And sometimes, we don't realize that different. When my friend told me that people over there (US) like to shaving, I told him that so do people here. People in Indonesia also like to shaving.
"Really?' he asked the question.
'Do the people there like to shaving also?' he wanted an affirmation.
Oh my.., can you imagine how I laughed at the question?
'It was the funniest questions I've ever got' I said.
'Oh, really? What's so funny?'
He still didn't know what's wrong.
'Yes, people here like to shave, except some people who like to keep their beard unshaved'.
'Oh, I thought that Indonesian people is the same with Arabian people who like to keep their beard', he answered.
Ok, the first difference have unfolded.

Then, I told him that it was a big surprised for me knowing that America has many Christian communities who keep their faith to God.
'Why?' he asked me.
'Yes, because I thought American people is the same with what we see in Hollywood movies', I said.
'Oh, Hollywood is Hollywood, it's not a real life. We do have a big faith in God also here', he said.
I laughed loudly for that. How many differences we'll never knew about one's habits in other part of this earth until someone tell the truth to us!
Then he said 'Yeah, this is a big misunderstanding. We thought that Indonesian people is the same with Arabian people (in shaving stuff!) and you thought that American people is the same with what Hollywood movies have showed off.'

It's a funny thing but really inspired me to open up my understanding that we can't judge other habits or cultures from what we see from far. We can't judge something or someone because we don't know yet about the topic. We don't know about the history, the feelings within, the background why something happens, the motives behind that, ... many things we don't know for sure actually!

Difference could bring us toward unity. We are different, so each of us is unique. But to be honest, difference could bring us to a cruel separation also. So, if you encountered many difference in your life, please don't be mad immediately. Just take a sit for a while, relax, think about the problem carefully, and ... put a big smile on your face :)

Difference makes us wiser. It makes you never be the same also if you handle it well. So, accept the difference as something we can't change. Maybe we are the one who need to change, not the situation or the people surround us (who we used to blame).

Just think about it:
If God wants all of us to be the same,
why does He create us different?

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