New way of looking at peppers :-)

Since we are on the subject of culture, I thought I would share some thoughts of my own… this is why we have a blog, right??? Well it’s probably not a surprise to anyone that Tony and I look different and to some this is an issue, others it is not. Did you ever wonder why chefs love making a stir fry to create a wonderful explosion of color to their dishes with red, green, yellow and orange peppers… well this came to my mind when thinking about culture. While we are all different colors, we are all still peppers and the combination of us all provides a wonderful explosion of color and culture to the world. We still maintain our own flavors but compliment each other and combinations make new flavors. Learning about cultures other than your own, makes you a different person. Having traveled to Guatemala and being exposed to a new culture brought new experiences and thoughts/ideas into my head. I was able to experience the struggle of a language barrier and not just for myself but also for others trying to communicate with me. It changes you and softens your heart that those challenges are not just all about you. Not to say you have to actually travel to another country to experience another culture, exposure to different cultures can happen every day, in conversations, trying a new food, etc.

It was easy for me when I first met Tony (honest moment here everybody) to see him as being from a different culture and ask him questions about concerns I had, completely forgetting that in his eyes, I am also from a different culture. Talk about a face turning red, convicted moment. But that has been the beauty of the learning process… we ask questions and share answers. Mostly everyone has their own thoughts of things based on history, things they have heard, just what they think in their own minds but if you keep those to yourself and don’t take the time to ask questions, you are passing up an opportunity to enrich your own life and preventing yourself from breaking free of those preconceived thoughts. There is no such thing as a stupid question (trust me; I’m sure I sounded like I lived in a dark hole with some of the questions I ask Tony). So share stories/ask questions/share thoughts and hopefully all of us will become a part of each other.