Wanderlust

The danger of the single story. What does that mean? It means that we often only hear one single story about a place or a person and that we base all our thinking around that story. The TED talk of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is all about how she experienced the danger of this single story. 

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As a person, we are all raised a certain way. We learn the differences between different cultures and people but often forget to learn the similarities we have. As all people, I too was raised in a certain way. I learned to be kind to others and have respect for everyone but along the way, you also learn how to make assumptions about certain religions and people. For example, all we see in the newspapers about Syria tells us that they are in constant war and that people need to run away from their homes to be safe. But that is only one story about one part of a country and not all there is to tell. They also have beautiful places, old cities and an amazing skill for cooking which most people don't know because we don't take the time to search for the positive things when we are covered in only the negative news. And yes, I just looked that up because I didn't know all of those things either but now I'm happy I do. 

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Since this website focusses on France, I will give an example of French stereotypes which are true but incomplete like it was mentioned in the TED talk. It is often said that the French are rude and impolite. While this might be true in some cases, the places I've been have shown me different. Most French people are polite and helpful and sometimes even try to speak English if they notice you are not from France which covers an other stereotype of the French and that they are not willing to speak English. 

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Growing older and getting better education, I learned that stereotypes and assumptions are rarely true and that you can only know someone or some cultures if you look things up and take the time to learn new things instead of sticking with your old habits or the things you learned when you were raised. 

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I remember when I sometimes used to be afraid when someone with another colour of skin was walking by or grabbing my purse when I saw someone I didn't think was trustworthy. Luckily, I too changed the way I looked at people and I learned that not everyone from the same religion is actually the same. That's like saying that every muslim is a terrorist because of one organization that does horrible things. That is just not true and we need to see that. 

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After watching this TED talk, I learned a ton of new things about a single story and I know that I will always have to keep learning and learning to accept people from other cultures which will be hard sometimes but I'm more than willing to face my fears.