I think more often than not, we as Americans usually classify different people & their cultures according to where they're from in the world with "that ONE story" we have all been told. For example: When telling people that I would be moving to the country of South Africa for 11 months, I received many different reactions, such as: Will you be living in a hut? Will you be riding an elephant to school? Will you have to go to the bathroom in a hole?...and you laugh, but I'm being serious. Because, unfortunately, that is all these people know about Africa. It's all they have ever been told. Forgetting about all of the beauty it has to offer. Many of people had said to me: "What a great sacrifice you will be making!" When in reality, I see this upcoming journey as a privilege, and an honor.
We may also call all of this a stereotype. Or, a "single story." And the problem with that, is this: The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make ONE STORY become the ONLY STORY. And the consequence of the ONLY STORY is this: It robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal human difficult, and it emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar.
Please take a few minutes and watch Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie briefly explain some of her own personal stories about the "Dangers of a single story" - I guarantee you too, will be in the same shoes as I was this morning while watching it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg
Thank you,
Peace & love to all ♡
"When we reject the single story, when we realize that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise."
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