Open white space

How do we measure ourselves? How can we self-check our bias when it comes to the race, gender. class...etc. issues that we talk in this class?

Relational experiences and situational factors create individual perceptions, and there is no right or wrong when we come to theses issues.

We can study and try to understand  the differences, but 'understanding' cannot be the same "understanding." Thus, I think how we approach to 'understand' each other-- is the important issue.

Every single time when we face the "other":men and women, black and white, rich and poor; homosexual and heterosexual..... If we are on the one side(born with, chosen), then having the 1st-hand experience / having the authentic understanding of the other side is hard--more likely impossible. Because the 'understanding' cannot the same. With that in mind,  approaching to the 'other' as another "self" to have 'authentic listening' is possible if we allow ourselves to see the issues from both sides.

The cards I have made above have little dots with different colors: red, blue, green and yellow. Some has only one dot; some has two dots , some has threes dots. Then there are ones that has no dots.

We are born like these cards. Some are white, some are Asian, Some are African Americans; Some are Hispanics.... Some are homosexual; some are heterosexual....etc. and maybe it is easier to understand if we have the same color of dots..same # of dots with the same colors.....meaning if we have the same cultural background, the same race, the same gender...whatever we talk in this class.

But there is more empty white space that we can share, add into each other, as each of us create our own lives. The dots are very small-- and that is what we are born with and the rest are what we make out of from our experiences with the time. I believe that how we use this open white space in our lives is another way to have the 'authentic listening' and checking our positions with bias.