Crazy story about culture differences

Crazy Story about Culture Differences

I’m living in an international city but I realized the last couple of days that I still have no idea about how important and HUGE cultural differences still are.

I’m a Canadian, and often, there isn’t much difference between a Canadian and an American. It really depends on which part of the country you are from. Many Americans ask me, “So, which part of the USA are you from”.

Yesterday I met an American guy and I felt like I was inside a movie. It was hilarious. America is such a diverse country and there are so many different kinds of people there. This guy seemed like an EXACT character from a movie about George Bush. It almost felt fake to me. I couldn’t believe that I was really sitting there and talking to a guy like this. It’s hard to explain unless you’ve experienced it. We both speak the same language, but WOW, we almost couldn’t speak. He was very emotional and we really didn’t know what to say to each other. I tried not to laugh, but I failed. It was crazy. I wish I had this on video for you. I like Americans, don’t get me wrong, I just couldn’t believe how different we were. I wondered why.

The day before I met someone from Germany. I know, and like, many people from Germany. I actually liked this guy too but I noticed a huge emotional pain inside him. I wondered what it was from. During our conversation I realized that a lot of it is from World history.

One kind of weird thing about Canada is that we have a really boring history. Basically, nothing happened. We’ve never been attacked, we have the USA to protect us, and there is no one north, east, or west of us.

Everyone learns history in school, and we all learn different history. I think this causes unbelievable misunderstandings and creates some pretty strong emotions about the past.

In Canada, we don’t learn too much history. I can’t

remember exactly what we were told, but I feel that I learned things like, “A lot of crazy and terrible wars happened, and no one really knows the truth, and probably people acted terribly towards each other, but we should try to somehow move on and forget the past”.

Now, I admit, it’s easy for a Canadian to learn this kind of thinking. We have no horrible experience. We can only read about it. I do notice however, that when I meet people from many, not all, but many other countries, there is still a lot of hate. People seem to know much more about history than us and it’s bothering them. It makes sense for it to be this way but it’s really not helping anyone. That’s my opinion anyway. When 2 people from 2 countries learn different stories about history and both people “know” they are right, then they really can’t communicate. It’s true that someone might be right or that they are both wrong. The point is that it really doesn’t matter. As a Canadian, I notice powerful emotions deep inside a lot of people.

I can see it within some Canadians too. I think many Canadians hate feeling like America’s stupid little brother. We have no identity and little world power. I don’t know why but I just don’t care. I hope for a better future and would love to use our brains, not emotions from history lessons, and come up with the solutions that this world badly needs. I know it’s easy to say, but if we all keep thinking the other person is wrong, then no solution will ever happen. We all need to be much more understanding or this world will never change.