Insight
It seems that one can’t help but stumble upon a melding of culture in New York City. A mesh of food, music, and language—the vibrant colors of society are ubiquitous in this new found world. Even through my thickly paned window, the collision of past, present, and future can be observed: graffiti in more than one language emblazoned on the building across the street.
And the day only continues to amaze me with its “cultural encounters”–down the stairs and onto a street where I have to stop for a minute to just attempt to take it in. Chinese writings on the side of a building followed by a sign proclaiming “In God we trust” only ensure my wonder. Just the sounds of this place… A Spanish-speaker helping a Chinese-speaker find the airport would’ve once been but a missed event on the subway—but now, I can’t help but to stand agape at how well the communication actually works. And my insight into this success led me to even greater realization: these cultural encounters that I see every day in this city, regardless of ethnicity, origin, and societal bounds, are successful—and I can’t wait to see what else this place has to offer.
1 comment
I think the way that you attached the word successful to cultural encounters was interesting. Rarely do I judge the encounters I witness but thinking about it, there are likely far more successful cultural encounters than not. This is encouraging, for as a society we tend to exploit culture-based confrontations as opposed to exemplifying effective ones.