Culture...Update

 

Update 28-May-2014:

 

Ms. Maya Angelou passed away today.  I first became aware of her when I saw the interview described below. 

 

Just this passed week, while flying from Seoul to Tokyo, I sat next to a very nice lady, from Leon, Mexico.  We had a great conversation, about all sorts of things.  At one point, she mentioned that she liked to collect small sayings, poems, etc., write them down, and stick them onto her refrigerator, for her family to see.  As she said that, I said, "I know one you can put there."  I told her about the one below, and she wrote it on a scrap of paper.

 

Cool experiences are all around.  You just have to decide to take part.

Take care,

-Mark

 

From 15-May-2011:

I saw an interview the other day on TV.  It was Maya Angelou, a famous African-American poet.  I have since bought her first book, her autobiography (1).  It’s the story of her childhood and early adulthood, living as a Black girl in a still segregated South (2).  During her interview, she quoted a famous Latin comedy writer, named Terentius, who lived from about 190 to about 160 B.C.  She first quoted him in Latin: “Homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto”, and then translated it to English: “I am a human being: nothing human can be alien to me.”  She said she found that quote to be most inspiring, and that she, now nearly 80, is still learning to think that way.

I found it inspiring as well, and I felt that it put into words something very important.  We all look at the world through the lens of our own culture.  We judge what we see as “different” or maybe “inferior” to what we do, to what we are.  Another translation of the word “alien” in Terentius’ quote could be “foreign”.  We see things as “foreign” to us, unknown, not understood, or worse, misunderstood, and we sometimes pull back, recoil from these different, “alien” things.

But I have always been interested in other cultures.  Learning about other parts of the world, or about the world at other times in history, exposes us to many new and different concepts, practices, cultures.  If the message from Terentius (3), and Ms. Angelou, is that we should embrace these differences, embrace variety, embrace culture, then I fully agree.

I think we can extend this concept into broader terms, perhaps “nothing about this earth can be alien to me”, or maybe “should be alien to me.”  The natural environment is important.  We can’t decide that certain portions of it are not important, not worth saving, just because we are unfamiliar with them.  The natural world matters.  Animal species matter.  The air, the soil, the water all matter to us as people, as a species ourselves.  We all owe it to all of us to know all we can about the earth, and about all of the people who live on it.

One of the best things about my job is that I get to travel to several parts of the world.  As well, I get to work on highly international projects, and so I meet people from around the world, even if I have not yet had an opportunity to travel to their home countries.  With respect to writing, it gives me many possibilities.  As I encounter things that interest me, and that I think will interest others (and if I can gain enough insight into them), the opportunities to write are limitless.

I’m happy to report that since the start of WrittenPost, the site has had visits from several countries.  About half are from the USA.  After that comes Japan, Finland, India and Spain.  In addition, there are a few from Canada, Peru, Germany, Iran, Ukraine, Singapore and Estonia.  I have friends in most of those places, but others have just searched and then followed links to the site.  (when those of you who get my e-mail announcements of posts pass the WrittenPost address on to others, I very much appreciate it ! )
(Update:  By May-2013, the site has been visited more than 3,000 times, from at least 45 different countries)
(Update:  By May 2014, we have had over 7,000 visits from 56 different countries)
(Update:  By June 2015, it's 10,000 visits and 77 countries !)

It does make writing a bit more difficult however, because writing a story that people from many different cultures can understand may mean having to explain things that my “home country readers” are already quite familiar with.  So, occasionally, I may seem to belabor and explain “common” concepts in detail, to the extent that a “home country reader” may feel bogs down the narrative, but which is necessary if others are to understand.  Maybe I will try something like the system below…foot notes to explain things to those who may be unfamiliar with local concepts.

For now, I will continue to look for interesting ideas, to learn about, to write about.  Soon I will post a story about a visit I made last year to Hiroshima.  After that, toward summer time, I will begin to publish a much longer post, a Short Story, a work of fiction that I wrote back in December and January…The Trail of the Fox.  As I think about that work, and the wide variety of readers who may look at it, I’m a bit intimidated.  It is written about an early, pre-Indian culture here in North America.  I have written it intentionally vague in some places, relying on the knowledge of the reader to understand what I’m talking about.  I hope I don’t leave some readers behind.  Let’s see.

A few notes to readers from other parts of the world:

1.     Angelou, Maya.  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Ballentine Books, New York, 1969.

2.     Slavery ended in the USA in 1865, at the close of an extremely costly war.  From that time, former slaves were free, but basically, most started with absolutely nothing, no money, no education, and only the work skills taught to them by their former masters. For years, Blacks had to try to catch up themselves.  They did not go home to Africa, because Africa wasn’t “home”.  Most of them were born in America, some had been many generations here.  In the South (which had been the area that had fought to keep them as slaves), but also in the North, Blacks were not allowed to live, work, eat or take recreation alongside Whites.  This was segregation, the “separation of the races.”  Official segregation only started to disappear rapidly in the mid-1960’s, by then, Ms. Angelou was already in her mid-30’s.

3.     I can’t help mentioning a favorite movie: “The History of the World, Part I”, directed and starring American comedian Mel Brooks.  One of the roles he played in the movie was “Comicus”, a Roman stand-up comedian.   Sorry, it was funny, the name Terentius reminded me of it.

-       Mark W. Laughlin

            15-May-2011