Looking Through the Window of Acceptance

In this week’s Wednesday Window, Carol Rasco (Rasco from RIF) was talking about Thanksgiving.  In her post, she talks about several conversations – literal and virtual – and concludes that she has a lot to learn about American Indians. I’ve been thinking a lot about what Carol said …

I grew up in an Italian/German/Polish Catholic household on the largely Roman Catholic west side of Baltimore, Maryland.  We were a fairly devout family … if my dad hadn’t met my mom, he would have been a priest.  When I got to high school, I was the principal’s daughter at the only Catholic high school in largely Southern Baptist Charleston, West Virginia.

My window on the world is framed by growing up in a white, Christian household. I’ve never been the victim of discrimination physical or emotional, racial, or religious. There are family stories, but they are not my experiences.  How does one learn the difference between tolerance and acceptance?

Quite simply: through literature. Thankfully, with places like Paper Tigers,  Diversity Rocks, Color Online, and the Brown Bookshelf, as well as the reviews within the kidlitosphere at large, there are opportunities to learn about the experiences of others.

Ultimately, what these stories offer – including fictional works – is the opportunity to see the world through their eyes. These are THEIR windows.

Carol, I say all this to say yes. I’d like to join you in your study. Not just of American Indians, but in the cultures and religions of those whose window is framed differently from mine.

How about you? Would you like to join us? This isn’t a book challenge or a meme or a blogathon. Rather, it’s a personal commitment to consciously select something beyond your traditional choices … just to see what the world looks like from a different window.