Day 2 cont'd (5.2.06)

As we traveled home, I couldn’t help but feel in our conversations and debriefing, that we made 1,001 assumptions. I don’t blame us. This is what we do, how humans process experiences, through analysis, we make sense of what is around us; this is how we create our reality (aka our worldview).

Yet I still felt that perhaps we are quick to think we understand part of Guatemalan culture. This I think is a dangerous place to be. We have moved quickly past thinking our culture is superior, and are in the honeymoon phase. We see the beautiful aspects of Guatemalan culture and instantly assume that’s the way it is. But we are able to judge and critique our own culture because we have lived 20+ years there. It is our own and we truly know it. Guatemalan culture, though, is a new experience for us, and we all, especially myself (because I have a tendency towards prejudice) need a lot of time to observe. Even Les has only been part of Guatemalan culture for 5 years and he is careful to judge certain aspects.

We have got to step off of the judgment wagon and talk a slow walk down observation lane.