I was planning on participating in a ‘virtual campfire’ on Social Media, which was facilitated by a number of international cross-cultural coaches. The posts people shared in this ‘virtual campfire’ thread were frank, sincere and heartwarming. Over the past few months when I reacted on posts and interacted with people in this group, I felt an instant connection with this bunch of cultural chameleons. I wanted to be part of this community. Here I felt I belonged & that there were still enough people out there who cared about others; people who know there are different ‘ways of life’.
As I sat at my desk, and looked at pictures from the past, of course the imminent process of recalling memories started. Looking through the photos, and selecting the right ones for the message I wanted to convey, took up a lot of time.
Indeed I’m still terrible at making decisions. Until a few years ago my biggest fear used to be ‘the fear of making the wrong decisions’, maybe it still is. Though I know the choices I’ve made over the last few years were life changing and the best decisions ever. I’ll write another post on that soon –> one of those resulted in me taking on my current profession.
Coming back to the Virtual campfire post. In the #virtualcampfire we were asked to share one fear and one dream with others. Weighing my words trying to put my thoughts to paper, it took me forever. I realised it always takes me forever to write a blog too. I wonder why I find this so tough? I love writing, I love sharing stories with others, I love having conversations IRL with others. What made sharing thoughts on social media so tough? I realised it had to do with one of my fears: Not wanting to be misinterpret & not wanting to be ‘excluded’.
Our world is getting more & more polarized. It breaks my heart to have my son grow up in such a world. I wish he’d grow up in a world without borders, not in one where people are so inhuman towards others. I was naïve to believe this a viable possibility
My fear #virtualcampfire
Hardly ever in my life have I felt discriminated against. As a CCK this could have happened while living in the UK, US, India and the Netherlands. I have always tried my best ‘to fit in’. I tend to pay little attention to remarks that could be interpreted by some as discrimination, read here. Often I try to understand why someone says whatever they say or I just ignore it. However after the elections I felt like I was a foreigner in my own country and that I don’t ‘belong’ here. It hurts to see so many people voting for a party that excludes people who are ‘different’. I know that so much hurt in this world is because people don’t want to, or are unable to, relate to others & embrace differences.
There will always be people who genuinely try & reach out to others & connect. They try to understand others, learn from differences & experience joy in this
My dreams, #virtual campfire
Seeing the news unfold in the world I lose hope/faith in humanity; I feel helpless. Maybe it’s just that I am growing old. In my younger years I was naïve and thought I could make a difference. Now I know that on ‘the world stage’ I can not make a difference, but I also know that in a smaller group- in my community- I can. That too was a prompt in the campfire to share ‘what your community needs to deal with Weltschmerz [a feeling of melancholy and world-weariness].
Weltschmerz is definitely something I suffer from. It was eye-opening though that so many fellow TCK and CCKs share this feeling of world-weariness under the current situation. We care for others.
I’ve shared a fear and a hope, but somehow the negativity lingers on longer and to end on a positive note, I’d like to share the following on how to (I) deal with Weltschmerz.
💫My dream is to instill in my son a spirit of curiosity and a desire to connect with others. May he and others with him explore the world, meet & interact with people from different cultures & religions & that may they embrace each other in their differences and their shared humanity.
A cross-cultural spirit or way of approaching the world around is what we all need, it’ll make the world a better place.
I am grateful to see this spirit of caring for humanity, in all who participate in the online TCK/CCK community🙏
Shakti Hannie 