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At 16:28 5/04/99 -0500, Diane Fitzsimmons <dcfitzsimmons@ou.edu> wrote:
>Enjoyed Betsy's comments ...
>
** So did I - very pertinent to mapping out a positive future.
>I was lucky enough to be with my daughter when she first realized what
>it meant to be a member of the dominant race. For awhile near our home
>was an ethnic mini-mall, actually just a series of booths set up inside
>a storefront. Virtually all of the items in there had an African or
>African-American theme, i.e., all the products had African-American
>faces on them. My daughter, who was about 8 at the time, told me she
>felt uncomfortable being the only white people in this store filled with
>African-American images. "Now you know how African-American children
>feel all the time," I told her.
>
** Well done, Diane. Yes, living in another culture enough to walk a mile
in their shoes, should be a basic part of the growing-up process.
As some of you will know, we took our 3 children to Nigeria when I had
a contract to lecture at Ahmadu Bello University - they were 7, 5 and 2; we
also lived in India when our youngest was 10 - she has fond memories of
living in a houseboat and playing with their same-age daughter, in the
boat's owners' hut on the bank of the lake. (Foreign adults weren't allowed.)
** That same daughter is now on her own in Beijing (and other parts of
China, travelling by train), at age 21.
** I regard her early experience as a major reason she is turning out to
be an excellent human being, truly a world citizen, a future person.
** Proving to one's own satisfaction that you _can_ live sustainably
(including with real sympathy for all others) is essential, even if you
choose to live at a higher level of consumption (and exert your "natural
priviledge") most of the time.
David.
** http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/6783/index.html#top
David MacClement <davd@geocities.com> , or davd@tao.ca for secure mail
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/3142/index.html#top