Stepping Over The Cultural Fence

Not everyone has the privilege of being born in a culturally open environment where class, colour, creed and status do not matter as long as you follow the rule of law.

Countries across the globe have lived with the cultural divide conundrum for ages. Wars have been fought over cultural differences and more wars are happening even as we speak.

My first reference to the cultural divide came out of a story I read in Sunday school.

Dubai is a surprisingly happy comity of over a hundred nations where people are happy to cross the cultural divide and learn. Nirmala Janssen

That was the tale of the Tower of Babel, where a multitude of people in a place called Shinar began speaking a number of languages and ended up not being able to communicate with each other.

This “Babel Phenomenon” as I call it ails us even today. Call it culture or language differences, there is something in all of us that prevents us from communicating appropriately even when we speak the same language or belong to the same culture or community.

Dubai on the one hand is a surprisingly happy comity of over a hundred nations speaking a host of languages where people are happy to cross the cultural divide and learn.

Take the instance of the German lady (see page 2) who came to live in the UAE. She speaks Arabic and raises camels while living with Bedouins.

On the other hand Rima Salha (our cover story) is desperately trying to be understood by the people who are threatening her existence.

How many Rimas do we have? Ordinary people living ordinary lives but with the constant question: Who’s going to do me in today?

Wouldn’t it be better if all of us stopped to think that people everywhere in the world are not really different?

We all have the same hopes, fears and feelings. We only communicate differently.

If you have a better answer to the problem of the great language and cultural divide we’d love to hear from you.

Nirmala Janssen
editor@alnisrmedia.com
www.xpress4me.com/letters