Everyday I find myself insecure and indecisive to making this or that decision mainly because I might be doing something I have never done before and I am scared, or because of what people would think of me, what they expect of me, or how much money I will be spending on it, or because of time, etc. Also, many times, I find myself and others using the same stereotypes for women or men, the rich or the poor, people from South America or Europe, that are pretty much completely outdated and not helpful at all in feeling more integrated with the world around me or in genuine touch and understanding of it...
The process of balancing and weighing up the options one goes through in life is a beautiful one and an important one too, yet, if one is balancing options according to what people would think of me and what they expect me doing... that is another matter. It can work in certain contexts (e.g. a job interview, or a performance to some extent) but not in many others...
I and many close friends and family have tried to encourage me to do things that I love and I am passionate about. Interestingly, not always that has worked, and not always have I seen that happening to others... for some reason we still struggle to be who we are or want to be, to do the things we want to do... to feel fulfilled and happy. Why, why is it so difficult? Even if we have the 'tools' to make a decision happen, even when our socio-economic circumstances are better than many other people, we still can't achieve many of our goals...
I have recently watch a video about a man from Colombia who was one of seven children in a poor family, had no toys to play with, no books to read, no water or electricity at home. This person became a National Basketball Team member and then went on studying Biology and became an incredible Microbiologist, has travelled around the world, and was the pioneer of 9 discoveries and inventions in his field. His name is Raul Cuero. In the video shown below he explains how he managed to reach his goals and feel satisfied and happy with his life. May be we can learn something from him. Again, here, he also mentions stereotypes and how much people are stocked in them and stop not only themselves but others achieve their aims and a fulfilling life.
Asking myself the real meaning of 'stereotype' and its etymology, I went..to... well...Wikipedia :)... 'Stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals... Stereotypes are standardized and simplified conceptions of groups based on some prior assumptions'." the word stereotype comes from the Greek stereos 'firm' or 'solid' and typos 'impression', hence 'solid impression'". The term was first used for exact replicas of original works of typography and was later coined by psychologist 'Walter Lippmann in his 1922 work Public Opinion'.
To say that all rich people are bastards who should be paying much more taxes than us; that all Latin Americans are lazy and always wait to do things 'mañana'; that all men think first with their 'dicks' or girls prefer pink to blue, are stereotypes that are not accurate, that many of us use in eveyday life and that constantly perpetuates the barriers that separate 'us' from 'them', 'me' from 'you'. That these conceptions may have come from the 'strong impression' of rich people taken advantage of the poor, or many Latin American actually leaving things for tomorrow, or men behaving 'macho' and with they sexual impulses... does not mean that it is always like that and that there is no room for change, for mobility. Our 'strong impressions' of something or somebody, what we think they are or should be because of that first or second impression or because they are just 'different', not 'normal' is what has caused so much damage to our society... (to be continued)
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