Cultural faux pas

Earlier today, I spoke with a friend of mine from the UK online through the webcam. We were talking about the gay deaf festival that took place in Switzerland last week. When I asked him how many went there, he said 185. "Oh, that's small," I replied. He seemed a bit surprised by my comment. Uh-oh!

I realized that the standards are different here in the US than it is in Europe. I decided to compensate my faux pas by trying to explain to him why I perceived it "small" whereas he didn't by telling him, "You'll have to remember that the US is HUGE." I went on to say that 185 is like the rough approximation of the population of a deaf school. Ouch! I think he was further offended by that. Strike two for me.

At that point, I decided to just shut up. I felt terrible. I felt bad. I didn't want to offend him any more because I didn't want to give him a bad impression of me. And he's such an awesome guy to get to know and chat with. I honestly didn't intend any offense. I wasn't trying to be arrogant either. I guess I had expected a lot more people to be there at the festival, since there was such a hype about it. I just wasn't there to truly experience all the fun that took place in Switzerland, so I only had the superficial facts to look at. I'm sure that if I were there, I'd have a hell of a good time and, hell, 185 is still a lot for a long weekend that I don't think it'd be possible for me to get to know each one of them within such a short time.

It's really interesting to see how people perceive things differently simply because of the way they were raised and taught in a certain society and culture. I've always considered myself to be a person who try to understand where one comes from in his or her life and the differences in all cultures. I've always considered myself a person who appreciates the variety in all cultures around the world. I guess even with all these traits, it can be pretty tricky to get out of the mindset of your own culture and think before speaking.