scratching my head ...

cul·ture[kuhl-cher] 

noun

1. the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.

2. that which is excellent in the arts, manners, etc.

3. a particular form or stage of civilization, as that of a certain nation or period: Greek culture.

4. development or improvement of the mind by education or training.

5. the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group: the youth culture; the drug culture.

Culture, then, can concern the behaviour, the artistic expression and/or the education of civilizations and/or societies as a whole, or those of a subgroup within that whole. It's all about defining what is believed to be excellent or acceptable - or, if you will, normal - within that group.

Thus, within that group, lines are defined, boundaries are laid, and everyone knows what to expect.

The trouble arises when cultures collide. Rules that are perfectly clear and that make sense to one culture are strange and bizarre to the other, and vice-versa. This inevitably elicits one of two responses:

1) "That's stupid. My way is better. I don't understand why they don't see that."

2) "Don't question. Just accept.  There are reasons why it is what it is.  You just don't know them."

Thanks to the fact that I am a Canadian teacher working at an American school in Asia, I've experienced my fair share of culture clashes. I've come to the conclusion that the second response is the right one, if only because the first response is ignorant, judgmental and shows that I feel my way is superior. And that's dangerous.

Allow me to illustrate why reaction 2 is the better one. I had a conversation with a Chinese couple (in English!) who, funnily enough, agree with most North Americans that Chinese children study far too much.  Case in point: it is widely agreed that Chinese children wear glasses because they do too much reading. School days for Chinese children are very long, and many teens have no social life at all, seeing that they are in school all day long, and then study until bedtime.

This Chinese couple is not happy with the school system, but they know that they cannot do anything about it. The husband informed me that the government needs to change things. I've known for a while now how intently Chinese students study, and I thought it was ridiculous.  But now, the government was being thrown in. How could they fix the problem?

This idea was further clarified by a foreign friend of mine this past week.  The problem is, there are so few spots for rising high schoolers; I believe she said only 10% of middle school children get into high school, so they must work really hard to get one of those spots.  And if a child is lucky enough to get in and make it through high school, they face similar odds when trying to get into university.

All of a sudden, the need for a Chinese child to study literally day and night was justified in my mind. Their future depends on it, more so than in North America.

Not to mention, it was now clear to me why, though China is a communist country, there is a bit of a class system.

I could sit here and type out many, many instances where my culture clashed with the Chinese one, sparks started flying, and I started asking questions.  There are the issues of bargaining, of squatty potties (I'm contemplating dedicating an entire post to that topic!), of modesty, of eating habits, of what beauty is ... and, of course, of Truth.

Let me stop for a minute and address that last topic.  Truth, I've discovered, is very often clothed in culture.  There have been a couple times where Chinese Brothers and Sisters did things that I sincerely felt was not right, according to the Book we all profess to believe. And yet for them ... there was no problem. I personally struggled for quite some time to come to grips with the fact that, though I felt ... sinned against, in their eyes there was no sin.

I thought about this for a while. How do you explain that to someone? To an entire culture? Is it my place to do so? Is what I perceive to be wrong really wrong?  Where does culture end and Truth begin?  Is someone a believer if they don't subscribe to my version of the Truth? Or am I being legalistic?

The questions overwhelmed me for a bit. And I still don't have all the answers.  But I will say this: I'm called to love, not judge.

I remember when I first started my Master's degree in Book studies, a professor told us about a man with many wives - I think he was from Africa - who became a Brother.  Now, a Western viewpoint normally is "one wife for one man." Trouble was, if this new Brother were to divorce all of his wives but one, they would be left economically despondent (translation: dirt poor).

The decision that was made in this case was that this man could keep his wives, but he could not be an Elder, seeing that Paul clearly states that any elder must be the husband of one wife.

I'm not here to argue whether or not this decision was right; that's a topic for a blog post when I'm well-rested and of sound mind (no comment from the peanut gallery, please!). I'm just trying to show that the West has ideas of what Truth is and how it manifests itself. These ideas are based upon our own culture and (limited) viewpoint of what life is. 

But outside of the West, there exist ideas and realities that don't fit in with the West's perception of Truth....

And you could substitute "Truth" with any number of things. 

As Sheldon Cooper would say, "Fascinating..."

True.  But also "frustrating."

(alliteration, ftw!)