November Blog Post
Jessika Ruggles
The statement that stood out to me immediately in Cross-Culture Diversity, was “Time tends to be viewed of as a commodity in North America, something valuable that must be well used and not wasted.” Many problems may arise from culture to culture, seeing how every culture sees time differently. People in North American culture tend to want to achieve results faster and may neglect the time to build relationships. I even see this is my everyday life with class work and some teachers. Teachers tend to be so concerned with the results and speed of their students versus the students taking the time to learn and grow at their own rate, that the student may be jeopardizing their own education.
This opens my eyes to the way I would rather have my life structured as opposed to the way is it now. I’ve never truly noticed that we tend to not “waste” and time and “maximise productivity” (140) rather than enjoy life for what it is. Not having every second planned out and filled with something would promote a more relaxing and healthy lifestyle. The article was also discussing how North Americans typically are very present oriented and don’t tend to focus on building relationships. We are a very individualistic culture and can sometimes get wrapped up into our daily routine that we forget others exist around us. I recently had an experience that opened my eyes to the endless opportunities of helping others.
Sunday at the grocery store I was asked by this older woman for some help. She was staying at the VA for PTSD from being a nurse in the army. She didn’t have a car while staying here for care. This woman had asked me for a ride back to the VA as her bags were heavier than she had expected. At first I was hesitant to say yes, however something was drawing this women and I together. I think that this world needs people to be more compassionate and caring and more away from skepticism. I said that I would love to give this woman a ride. I am very glad that I did and it was an amazing, eye opening experience for me. This women taught me more than I think she knows. She taught me that I needed to get out of my bubble of safety and open myself up to more opportunities. She also taught me, that in this busy, self- centered world, there is always time to help others. I have been humbled by this experience and believe that I choose to live this way, I will lead a more full filled life.
This article correlates with our class because it goes to show that everyone has a different way of doing things. One isn’t better than the other, but we can certainly learn from the successes of others. The link that I have attached is from Harvard Business Review that discusses different cultures and how time is perceived and less of a strict schedule, but a guideline for when things will happen. Each society has a set way of doing things and it is very interesting to learn about the correlations and the similarities.
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