X is for Xenophile & Xenophobia

 

Here is what they mean:

Xenophile- an individual who is attracted to foreign people, cultures and manners.

Xenophobia – dislike of prejudice against people from other cultures.

 One of the characters from the Harry Potter series is Xenophilius Lovegood.   First, I think J.K. Rowling is a master at naming her characters.  Anyway, Xenophilius Lovegood is exactly what his name means. He loves everything that is new and strange. The stranger it is the more he loves it.

I wonder how different our world would be if we were a bit more a xenophile rather than a xenophobe.  I’m not saying we have to love every culture but we can appreciate it. I appreciate the Mexican cuisine, Italian, Greek, Bulgarian and more and more cuisines.  

I also love different traditions and cultures and clothes. I watch a certain travel show on my local public TV station. One of the things I like about the show is that the hosts talks about the local traditions and cultures. I love his enthusiasm for the different cultures.

 He explains why people believed what they believed and how the traditions started. You may find some of these traditions and beliefs strange but that doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate it.  One of the things that helped me appreciate other cultures was from a joke (or was it a proverb) that I heard. Here’s how it goes.

 An American family played host to a Chinese foreign exchange student.  The American family had a son the same age as the foreign exchange student and they became very good friends. At the end of his stay, the Chinese student invited the son to visit him in China to which the son agreed. When they arrived in China, the Chinese friend said before I show you around my country I need to first pay my respect to my ancestors. The American accompanied his friend to his family’s burial plot. The American stood back and observed his friend place a small bowl of rice on the grave. As they set out on their adventure, the American said to his friend jokingly, “How likely do you think it is one of your relative will come up to eat the bowl of rice?" To which the Chinese friend replied, “About as likely as one of your relatives will come up from the grave and smell the flowers.”

 I just thought this was a great example of appreciating different cultures. You don’t have understand it but you can certainly appreciate it.

  

X is for Xenophile & Xenophobia