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What have you learned as a result of your place (location) on this planet? Do we learn different lessons from different place?
It seems to me that people might learn different lessons from where they are - if our environment shapes us. I just wondered if that is true. For example a place with harsh winters may teach different lessons than one with eternal spring or one with monsoons might teach different lessons than ones with deserts. Please share whatever is relevant to you in this regared.
Efrain Torres
Salim Solaiman 50+
From Singapore I learnt even a government organisation can work very efficiently and be corruption free (at least that's my experience says)
In Saudi , I learnt how to remain focused to my deliverables ingnoring / absorbing all adversity and discrimination.
In Sri Lanka , learnt being a developing country that was involved in war for around 3 decades, offering schooling for all, almost free & offering medical service to some extent to the remotest corner of the country is not an impossible task.
Debra Smith 200+
Hello, good man!
Salim Solaiman 50+
Scott Koenraadt
To the second, of course! Lessons are perceptions based on your past experiences and upbringing. So it is completely individualistic. You could give a lecture to a thousand people and I would think there would be 500 different interpretations.
To provide an example:
A group of 5 approach an waterfall in the Amazon
One sees all the biodiversity
the second sees the aesthetic beauty of the whole scene
the third only sees the flowers
the fourth looks into the water
the fifth sees the cash value of the area
each one sees the same thing with different focuses and different priorities, thus they all learn different lessons from the same space. It would be the same of basically every location on earth
Debra Smith 200+
Tatjana Jevdjic 200+
In a more peaceful environment, I could say, that environment influences us in every way, there is reciprocity. Humans are like flowers. They do need sunlight, attention, communication, caring, nice word and some material things.
Scott Koenraadt
But the outside climate is an important aspect, as is how much exposure a person gets to other people. There will always be commonalities between people from the same area, stereotypes can be both good and bad, the problem is that the assumption colours our view in much the same way as my previous example. I do not think this can be avoided, but it can be reduced by increasing the amount of interaction between populations or by decreasing the amount of media coverage of different populations (they tend to be the negative aspects being shown).
Edwin Nazarian 10+
Good question Debra.
if I start telling what I have learned it will be an endless. as you know Europe is so small but it has some many cultural differences.
I found out is that every culture and tradition has something to offer you, things are not in your own culture. things that may not make sense to you at all, because you use different way of thinking.
being interested in human nature I could find the importance of the circle we draw around us.
Imagine you draw a circle around you (as big as you want) then think what you can put in it (it's up to you). sometimes even WHO you can invite in that circle, some come in and some leave who already been in that circle (time doesn't matter here). and when you move from where you were standing (your current location) you start to draw another circle. and again it goes around and around, each time your move each time you create a new circle, and when you stop a moment and look at it you will start to notice that you are living in bubbles, and you may wonder who is the mother of these bubbles.
Apart from all these traditional life stiles you somehow manage to create your own.
I think I learned creating bubbles (circles) and taking all the best I can into that bubble, keep them there and enjoy when I am again back to the babble.
While I was writing this comment I was thinking If I can connect these bubble to each other, in one hand yes I can, but in the other hand there are certain non workable factors in X bubble for Y place.
an example may be a help: Individual thinking vs Collective sharing.
Some Northern European countries people tends to be individual thinkers.
but in many Mediterranean countries people do live in a collective life where everything is shared.
Sometime my North European thinking isn't accepted in Souther Europe, and vice versa.
but when I am with North Europeans in the South then it works
I grew up in South East, studied in the North, moved to South.
James Zhang 30+
If I can describe the places I've been to with one word each:
London: Orderly
Paris: Passionate (it really is the City of Love, I saw two people in the middle of the streets just making out with each other without a care in the world about everyone else)
Germany: Efficient
Copenhagen: Aesthetic
Debra Smith 200+
James Zhang 30+
edward long 100+
Debra Smith 200+
edward long 100+
Rhona Pavis 50+
Debra Smith 200+
Rhona Pavis 50+
Debra Smith 200+
Rhona Pavis 50+
Lawren Jones 10+
Debra Smith 200+
i do see personality differences in differing areas of your country too.
James Zhang 30+
I can't say my life is that eventful like a lot of other guys I know, but this also allowed me to think a lot about things, especially recently in the middle of college. I'm majoring in this thing called Computational Media at Georgia Tech, which is a very good major for me imo. I think a lot of things conceptually and abstractly, not computationally, and Computational Media was a very broad, not-as-technical major. But I get a lot of exposure in a ton of things with this major. I know how to program stuff, do animations, etc. Pretty much anything.
So that's really my background.
Debra Smith 200+
Would you be able to share some insight about the effects of your geographic origins for me? Did your climate, your geography or your proximity to water impact who you or your compatriots are? Elizabeth seems to have a simliar question going with a different focus and it is just one of those strange cooincidences that we were things of place half a world apart. Now, I know we have all manner of personalities from every place but I simply wonder if we are imprinted or impacted by our place of origin. I also wonder if people sometimes emigrate to be in more alignment with place? I am not even sure I can express my emerging thought all that well. Thanks, James for such patience.
James Zhang 30+
So, I think climate does impact the kinds of activities we do. Outdoor activities, unless it's too hot or blazing, are pretty good here. Not so much winter sports. Swimming is pretty nice here.
But I think it's the people around us who make the bigger impacts. I wasn't in a really busy and crowded place like cities and urban life, we were given "better" opportunities to grow. I'm from a middle class family just like most of the people in my neighborhood. A bunch of kids here go to malls, watch movies, play games, hangout and do random stuff. Facebooking, is a very popular thing lol. There really aren't that many places to go to unless we drive all the way to downtown Dallas, the urban area.
I also can't say our schools are really that bad imo. We don't have any bullies (not that I know of) or anything, we're very open about a lot of things like homosexuality and stuff. My school's sports team is ridiculously good. Our band is also very good. Our art has improved drastically in just 3 years while I was away in college. Only thing that still sucks is orchestra -_-. But yes, I think we did have very good teachers. I had the best, and hardest, English teacher ever. While I nearly failed the class, trying to get me to think critically about the Scarlett Letter, finally clicked towards the end of the term. And my Government/Economics teacher was also very good at making us think on our own.
Point is, I was raised in a very good and sustainable lifestyle, while not being too spoiled (if I do say so myself hehe) and once I got to college, that's when things started to get awesome.
Debra Smith 200+
James Zhang 30+
I'm sure you've heard that everything is bigger in Texas, or we raise a bunch of longhorns and farms, like country music, we're all cowboys/cowgirls, pro-guns, etc.
While Texas is conservative overall, Austin, Dallas, and Houston are about as Liberal as you can get.
Debra Smith 200+
James Zhang 30+
And I mean, I personally thought my classmates were really open about their political parties (though a lot were also not really sure who they were with). There was this one guy, we always joke around with because he is THE most conservative guy ever, despite my class being predominately liberal or moderates. I mean sure he had some really whacky beliefs and all, but it didn't change the fact that he was a really funny dude and nice guy, as far as I know anyways. There was another girl in our class who was the most liberal person I know too. It's always fun when she and the first guy were in the same classes. Too funny seeing them go at it lol
You can say Texas is divided into two rival schools: UT Austin vs Texas A&M. Liberal vs Conservative. Lolol
Debra Smith 200+
The strangest thing is that liberals like me, not the ones who are such by rote but those who have thought things through and who have decided what they stand for, often adore those conservative guys even though they often detest us. It is nothing perverse but rather, having decided for ourselves what goodness is, we see many traits in these passionate conservatives that we can admire. For instance, I adore the courtliness of Bob and Edward. They never let me off the hook and I do not let them off either but you can feel their wisdom and their wrestling with the issues and that is worth respecting.
James Zhang 30+
And thanks! I do try to improve my speech and writing to convey my thoughts as clearly as possible.
After that one exchange with Bob on that Theory of Everything thread, I have gained a ton of respect for that guy for his experience, wisdom, and his confidence in his own beliefs. I haven't seen too much of Edward, but all his posts seem to be pretty concise, to the point, and efficient. He seems like an intelligent dude as well.
Debra Smith 200+
James Zhang 30+
Indeed!
Debra Smith 200+
So what do you think is happening where you are?