Of all the undergraduate classes I took over twenty years ago, the one that has served me the most in my adult life was a speech class. Taught by my favorite professor, he challenged me to talk to people whose opinions differed from mine.
"Convincing someone who doesn't agree with you to listen, and then actually hear your point of view is a skill you will need." How right he is.
I'm not referring to conversations like the one I had recently where I told a friend I couldn't bake apple cinnamon muffins at home because my husband didn't eat them.
"How can he not like apple cinnamon muffins?"
"It's not that he doesn't like them. He's trying not to eat baked goods. If I bake them, he'll eat them, or so he says. It's easier if I just don't make them."
She understood. Many forty-four year old men are watching their waistlines. Point made, point taken.
Sitting across from the founder of the volunteer organization I worked with back in the spring, I held my response to a comment he made.
"I hope people like you will find it in their hearts to take a month off from work and go volunteer somewhere."
I didn't think I could say to him "That won't be happening with me." I did not go to Japan on a whim. I went to volunteer in late March in areas affected by the earthquake and tsunamis because it was Japan. The floods raging Thailand? I won't be going there to help. I'm sorry. I really am. Not sorry enough to spend money out of pocket to go, but sorry nonetheless.
I went to Japan because of my emotional connection to the land, country, and people. It was my home. Japan matters to me. Just as the natural disaster in Thailand matters less to me, the events on March 11 do not matter to most people. This painful realization is my the latest fact I struggle with. If I can't and won't go to Thailand to help them, how can I expect those who share no emotional connection to Japan to keep helping?
The answer lies in Greece. Asia does not have a "Union" the way Europe does. To assume and believe the economic crisis Japan is now experiencing does and will not affect the rest of the world, this I argue against vehemently. Just today NPR reported Honda's production has decreased by over 50% since March and its exports are down over 15%. Not buying a new car any time soon? So be it. This is just one example of how Japan's economy can affect you. Extend this problem out several years and not only will we see a decrease in products made in Japan, if Japan becomes less of a consumer powerhouse will that not in turn affect the world's economy?
Europe may or may not bail out its neighbor to the south. The economic woes of Greece, however, have affected the European Union. Who will bail out Japan? What will Japan's economic woes do to the rest of the world? To you? To me?
Louis Armstrong is quoted as saying, "There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell them." This statement has been not only on my mind since March, it has become my mantra I struggle against. How do I talk to those who have no emotional connection to Japan and get them to care? I am no economist. I am no banker. I can't espouse theory and rhetoric that will make people change their beliefs. Is Louis Armstrong right? Am I doomed? Is it truly impossible to convince people who "don't know"?
I think back to my speech class. Having tried many of the tactics taught me, I come away with mixed results. The answers on how to talk to people who don't "get it" elude me while my emotional connection to Japan remains strong and real. A most frustrating conundrum, indeed.
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