On Imagining Others

While I was exploring the “7 billion others project”, I came across so many different people from all over the world. Each person talks about their lives and what life, love, happiness, family and many other things mean to them. I found it completely fascinating, because as a society, I think that we too often get caught up in the rush of our everyday lives, and we don’t stop to think that there are other people all around the world, from different countries and cultures; and we don’t think about how even the smallest action we do could affect them. While I was browsing the 7 Billion Others website, I came a across a man named Maremba, from Papa new Guinea. And as I was listening to this man tell his story, I became heart broken. Maremba is a man from a tribe in Papa New Guinea, and he says he doesn’t know his true age, but thinks he is about 59 years old. He talks about how his tribe and his culture are very important to him, and that all he wants, is to be able to teach his culture to his children, and his people, in hopes that his culture will continue to live on. But unfortunately, missionaries have come in and tried to put a stop to and modernize his culture, because to them, Marembas’ ways, are “the way of the devil”. Because of this the culture of Marembas’ people is slowly fading, and his children have been sent away to the city to live the way that society sees “fit”.  This saddens me deeply, because people are going into places and practically forcing them to change their ways, and even their culture just to satisfy what they think is the “right way” to live. And the truth of the matter is that it’s wrong for us to do that to each other. We as humans need to realize that all people are different, and that people do, and will have different beliefs. And we can’t just invade other peoples lives, to try and change the way that they are living just because it doesn’t match up to our own personal standards. We need to be able to teach acceptance and understanding to all people, religions, and cultures of the world. Because if not we will loose them forever.

One thought on “On Imagining Others”

  1. Teagan,
    This is a powerful post. It is fascinating to me that groups in power seek to stomp out differences. What is that all about? Is it fear or vulnerability as Sarah Gilbert writes about? Remember all those people who yelled at her on your bicycle just because she was different, just because she was challenging their norms? As Darwin told us many many years ago, diversity is good for the species. We need differences, because with different approaches, we are more likely to find solutions to the problems of the world. Nice work!

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