How many times did you get in a heated conversation trying to make another person see eye to eye with you? Or trying to defend your position?
Well, that was me when I was younger. I don’t even want to recollect the many unpleasant situations I put myself through speaking my truth. You see, I grew up in a society where speaking in metaphors was the norm. Always being careful sharing my thoughts with someone outside my family. After the Romanian Revolution, I promised myself that I wasn’t going to speak in metaphors and hinting at my truth.
When I immigrated to Canada I had this ideal image in my head of a free society where the freedom of speech always prevailed. To discover that my (East European) culture was, in fact, more outspoken, and my spoken English too direct. To me, political correctness was a more subtle form of suppressing one’s thoughts and freedom of speech. I didn’t see much difference between the culture I grew up in and the Canadian culture I was experiencing, in that respect.
I eventually came to translate political correctness with being wise, protecting myself and my energy. More and more, when I sense a collision in opinions with another person, I change the subject, remain quiet, or better yet, follow the Japanese etiquette and do a “hmm” in response.
So I thought, since I’m still at the beginning of this journey, I should write a disclaimer for those times when my content won’t resonate with you, or even worse, trigger you. Because the purpose of this blog is to speak my truth, while at the same time respecting yours.
Our unique backgrounds and experiences make us all unique – we shouldn’t be afraid to speak our truths and learn from each other.