Expand Your Consciousness

The more I dwell on this, the more irked I become. This fall, I re-enrolled in college (I am on the 20-year plan) and registered for 18 hours of sheer fun, right? Well, most of my courses fall hand-in-hand. From Philosophy of World Religions and Philosophy of Race to Minorities in America and Race and Crime. There are two other courses (Medical Writing and African American Issues in Psych) but they aren't as thought-provoking as the titles make them seem. That sentiment actually bodes for all my classes with the exception of the religion and the race courses.

Yesterday was a particularly annoying day. My Minorities instructor is male and Nigerian. Some would ask, what in the world does that have to do with anything. Well, I'll get there in a minute. He is married to an American Black female who has already earned her PhD. The other trait is that he's Christian.

So here's my issue: The chapter we are studying is Arabs and Muslims (contrary to popular belief, they are not one in the same). I firmly feel that if you, as a professor, are planning to lecture on a topic that is not necessarily your forte, then you should research the topic further beyond the text. I'm not so concerned that he brings in his own viewpoints, although at times they are narrow-minded, but I am irked that as a "worldly" person who is supposed to teach so others can learn yet he can not see both sides of the coin. To add insult to injury, he as well as the rest of the class hates the fact that I am knowledgeable on some subjects. Mmm, I did mention that I am taking a WORLD RELIGIONS course!

This is precisely what is wrong with the current election, education, and even the criminal justice system. To continue to foster ethnocentric values (and this professor does it unknowingly) only continues the vicious cycle that Americans are rude, abrasive, obnoxious and ethnocentric.

Folks, there's a world of shyt going on outside of the crap that is happening on our shores and the crash on Wall Street with its ripple effects and the worldwide shyt affects us each and every day. Learn about your neighbors, their religion(s), their food, their culture, etc. Learn tolerance of others who may be "different" than your norm because to them, you too are different.

I've prattled on enough but will leave you with this one thought: if our government did not possess the idea that their way is the only way and that America is the liberator of the world, we would not have our sons, daughters, brothers and sisters, dying overseas in a war based on lies.

Expand your consciousness!