Back again...And Mexico Part two :)

I have to say I'm pretty ashamed of the how long it has been since I have written.  Life caught up with me pretty fast and I'm sad to say blogging kept being pushed lower and lower on the always growing to do list.  But I realized that if this is my passion and this is what I want to do, well then I better start doing it.  So here I am, back again and ready for a new phase.  New Inspirations, and New Ideas.  And I promise I'll keep blogging.

So I promised you guys Mexico Part Dos...and I didn't forget.  So my church Grace Community Church has begun to travel down to Mexico every month to start a fellowship with the children in the town of San Antonio De Las Meinas.  But I talked about that in my last blog.  What I want to talk to you guys about today is ethnocentrism.  Ethnocentrism is a term that was foreign to me when I first heard it.  But then I kept hearing it.  I heard it in my psychology class and my speech class, it was even brought up in English.  And just the other day I heard it on the news.  So Ethnocentrism is the idea that our society and culture is the same as another.  For example; people have the idea that education, child-rearing, food, driving habits, marriage, relationship habits, and so many more are the same as they are their own society. 
Most people don't realize they suffer from ethnocentrism, but the truth is we all do  it.  Even when I heard the word I thought that I understood what that meant.  But going down to Mexico I saw that maybe I needed to revaluate what I thought ethnocentrism was. 
In Mexico I saw little kids who were happy...you are probably thinking "Yeah Syd there are happy kids in the U.S too.  I know I know.   But these kids were happy and content with things that would bore most kids that I know.  Things like duck duck goose and ring around the rosie, games that got boring to us after two or three times, we played for hours.  They loved pencils, and tootsie rolls, hula hoops, and coloring.  They spent hours doing things that to us seem boring or mundane.  The simplest things entertained them, made them happy, and caused them to love us.  And that was, is, why I feel in love with those kids.  They showed love, and fell in love with us so fast. 
I think I realized we have more love around us then those orphans do.  But for some reason, those little children give their love and acceptance easier then any of us.  We can learn so much about those children.  But you assume that every culture is the same, and you block yourself off to learning more of the world around you and yourself.
So my advice is to try to notice moments of ethnocentrism, to realize that people and cultures aren't like yours, so don't be closed off to other cultures but embrace them and become a part of them.
You'll find that you'll learn more about yourself, what your capable of, and the world. 
have fun :)
Sydney...:)