Sharing is Caring — (don’t worry it’s not (directly) about COVID).

Our world has become less and less honest and authentic about any given topic — where we constantly see ‘conformities’ to the popular way of doing things or the one and only correct way of portraying ourselves.

This is not only true of our external portrayal of ourselves, but this dives deeper into people less willing to share their stories with us — which, I don’t expect everyone to do so, however, acknowledging the fact that making ourselves vulnerable and allowing discussions can work to ‘heal’ and help the current situation that we are in.

We are all humans and we have shared experiences in many things, which, if it’s told, can touch and support countless other people who are in similar situations…However, personal experiences and stories have been muted, because each individual story and experience are so incredibly different, that society just can’t agree on it — because, as mentioned before — there’s only one right way of doing and thinking about things, no?

But what if there was just one more platform and place for people to share their personal experiences and events in life that has made a significant mark on their lives? What if there is a community that encourages people to celebrate and use their unique voices displayed through their fragmented, yet important life experiences. For people to share what is the closest to heart for them — their identity — their roots — their culture.

In this blog, which is to be a series, you will read raw and honest stories of people with various backgrounds. They will share with you their personal experiences — working towards the common goal of embracing and sparking new conversations through each of the unique cultural stories shared.

It will be about identity and understanding and misunderstandings of others and sometimes themselves — the culture that binds them, which can be a mix of both positive and negative personal stories in their life.

I’m excited — and want to continue, then let’s go!

What is my reason for doing this?

Before I get ahead of myself and dive deep into my storytelling mode of what prompted me to start this website and journey — let’s first talk about my background.

About me:

My name, taken from this blog description you already know, is Weirong Li, but I much prefer to be called Mimi. It’s what I grew up with and what I’m used to.

So, I am a 20 year old woman — it still sounds fairly odd for me to call myself a woman, because I believe transitioning from calling myself a girl to a woman comes with a lot of responsibilities, which I know I still need to know and learn a lot more about — to identify myself as a ‘woman’. But that’s also another topic…which I will gladly talk about in my coming blogs, anyway…

Where am I from? My passport tells me I’m Chinese, but I was born and raised in Hungary.

Though, interestingly enough, at the same time, I still am very connected to the culture and the values of China, which I have learned from my parents when I was small.

On the other hand, Hungary has also had a good amount of influence on me. It has taught me much about having the benefit of growing up and spending my life in Europe — which to many people may be boring, but for me, I believe, it has grown into me, enjoying the humble and peaceful aspect of Europe.

Then, I had the privilege to attend American international schools from first grade until high school. This meant I was able to be surrounded by so many diverse people with their own values and cultures — all in one place. And this has definitely played and still plays a huge role in my interest and exploration with different cultures and recognizing the importance of such understanding.

Currently — I am based in Austria, where I study Journalism and Communication studies in my second year at the University of Vienna, which to be honest, I very much enjoy.

And to wrap up my experience so far, I can say that I had the opportunity to grow up as a ‘fourth-culture kid’. Speaking 4 different languages — Chinese, English, Hungarian, and German — let’s be honest, and say however that not all of these are at native level haha.

To move on to answer you on my why. Why am I taking the initiative of starting this website and writing this blog?

It’s mainly due to the fact — from my background and my experiences, I am aware that some of the rarest and most special moments in life were created by the people I was with.

It did not matter where the person is from or if their story matched mine, it’s the spontaneity and beauty that despite all of these differences and 100 million ways where we could have ended up not meeting each other — we did, and were able to make and build valuable connections and have understanding for one another.

Therefore it lies in the root of connection, connecting to others despite differences in your paths. These differences can be explained and these connections and relationships can be built and specifically through the mode of story-telling.

Stories are a fundamental skill that all humans encompass and have the capacity for. Stories create the solution for a more socially aware society, which we are undoubtedly greatly in need of right now.

So, follow along my journey (with me) and you will understand Why it’s so important. And what one small thing that You can do right now to contribute to this world, along with the rest of us.

One short story (amongst several other ones) — that made me realize we needed to change.

Events in life happen and humans create stories from them. We decide which ones resonate with us at the moment and how it then shapes our interpretation and affects us in the future.

My story is simple. And I wouldn’t attribute one story to the cause of something, but rather the accumulation of the small ‘sub-stories’, which then showed up in the form of A or The Story.

As a metaphor, the small ‘sub-stories’ are similar to those internal warning signs that try to tell you that something is off, and you never realize it — until you finally have that AHA! moment, where you recognize the overarching repetitive theme or The Story.

My earliest experience and stories that built up such ‘trigger signs’ dated back to elementary school (will be shared in my upcoming blogs). And the Aha moment, which was when I found a larger story to associate these ‘small stories’ with — was something that happened to me around February of this year.

This was when COVID was significantly growing and everyone was super cautious, however, we were more or less still unaware of the full implications of the virus.

This is how the story went…

I was in Austria. I left my university where I borrowed some books, as the next day I was going to head back to Hungary (since all classes were already transferred to digital then).

I went into the metro, heading to my dorm.

I took this metro route several times a day. And, I wasn’t planning on some ‘revolutionary’ event to be taking place.

Everything was as it was — except I and a couple of people wore face masks (though back then it was not yet mandatory for us to wear face masks).

In the metro, I looked around and found one empty spot next to 3 middle-aged Europeans (who weren’t related). The middle-aged woman who sat next to me didn’t have her face mask, while the other two, who sat straight across from me (one man and one woman) wore scarves wrapped around their necks.

I decided to choose the seat at the outer left corner.

While I took my seat, the woman next to me, the one who had no face mask, started coughing. It wasn’t a big deal, which I told myself, her throat itched I guess.

After I took my seat, the three people’s eyes darted right towards me, but from my experience, this is normal when anyone new joins a group of any sort.

I looked across, towards the two people with the scarves — briefly greeted them with my eyes ( I ‘greet’ people with my eyes, as a form of acknowledgement, a way of saying hi).

When my eyes met level with that of the man with the scarf, he suddenly showed a look of contempt — abruptly looked aside and pulled his scarf up to his face.

It was obvious why he did it.

I felt a punch to my stomach.

Following the man pulling his scarf over his face, the lady next to him looked at me and without hesitation did the same.

This time I felt a tickle, not a punch — almost like laughter.

After a minute, the guy with the scarf stood up and walked towards the opposite end of the metro, and found another place to sit.

To explain my emotions:

I felt anger. Yet — I found it funny.

My anger came from the actions of the man and the woman who followed.

But it was funny and almost amusing to me, how people who were clearly no longer children, can with no prior context at all, judge a situation.

How would you feel?

For me, I felt bad for people like that, knowing in the future, their actions will teach them a lesson in some way or the other that wouldn’t be pretty. Impulsive decisions, I learned — never do really work.

I also felt disgusted.

The blunt show of disdain — during a period of fragility in the world.

Don’t people understand?

Don’t they understand the situation?

Or people just don’t care to understand each other?

Something else had crossed my mind. During the time when this story took place, Italy had a growing number of infections…

So, why would people still blindly point fingers just on the basis of how we look? — because I’m Asian?

In comparison with the lady who was coughing, who didn’t even wear a face mask? No one left their seat because of her?

I didn’t understand.

Arriving at my station, I walked out and pursued my thoughts.

It wasn’t even such a big event, but such a small act does change your perspective about things and how people treat and perceive the cultures of others.

In this situation, there was a lack of cultural sensitivity and awareness.

There was no placement of oneself in the shoes of others. Instead there existed only their own view and their own experiences.

What I noticed here was a lack of cultural pluralism, which is “…the acceptance of the other… plural coexistence, but with the possibility to sustain your own opinion” (Cucoș, 2000, as cited in Constantin, 2013:93). Cultural pluralism was absent.

The thing is, this was a bigger issue than just this 1 event.

People always had their own biases and prejudices — no matter if it was during corona or not. And similarly — there are also countless other stories like mine that have sadly not been shared and voiced.

But how can we expect people to know and understand what is going on, if we don’t share?

Hate to break it to you — people aren’t psychics or mind readers. Therefore, we need to make sure that our stories have a place to be written down. To start sharing our cultural stories that have impacted us in one way or another — it doesn’t need to be ‘life-changing’.

Let’s make sure that we learn to share such experiences, to create a culturally aware society.

Where people regardless of their background can say, “I know and understand how you feel, even though I am not from…”

This is the initiative I am creating and pushing for.

And you are not alone on your journey. There are many others who have had similar experiences, which is not normal, and you certainly don’t have to accept it.

I decided to break the ice. And I welcome you guys to hop-in with me along this ride by creating a platform for you guys to join and voice your stories.

Are you in?

Together, we can peel away these cultural boundaries and choose to understand rather than to impulsively react to the given circumstance.

“But hey, you only shared one story. To what extent is what you’re saying actually relevant to the world now?”

Let’s bring out a fact. So I have it.

In this regard, as promised, I will share with you a real-life example that highlights the importance of cultural awareness and subsequently what would happen if there is a lack of it.

Healthcare

This example explains how cultural understanding affects health care providers and professionals.

First of all, it is important to understand the meaning of being culturally competent in the health care sector.

Stated in BMJ Journals by Seibert, Stridh-Igo, and Zimmerman, the requirement of the state of being culturally competent in health care, requires that “…the health professional be sensitive to the differences between groups, to the differences in outward behaviour, and also to the attitudes and meanings attached to emotional events such as depression, pain, and disability.9”

Further, it’s stated that “…generalising those who are different, based on global and ignorant stereotypes are major contributors to the problem of being culturally uneducated.”

An example of the absence and thus importance of cultural competency was a case regarding a Mexican migrant farm worker, “J”, who had a severe traumatic brain injury.

In this instance, he only spoke and understood a very rural Spanish dialect, which made communication between him and the doctors very difficult. His case seemed to continually head downscale. And “J” made no efforts in recovering. Additionally, he even physically rejected those who wanted to help him. After some time, his condition was getting worse and there seemed to be no solution, however, after 6 weeks his father was finally able to come and visit him.

The doctors learned that “J” was convinced he would never recover from his injury, because he only believed in traditional Mexican healing practices. Fortunately, with the presence and encouragement of his father, which was aided by curanderismo, folk healing that works at material, spiritual, and mental levels — “J” was able to in the end recover.

In a qualitative study by Anu-Marja Kaihlanen, Laura Hietapakka and Tarja Heponiemi, it was discovered that a significant number of patients that were culturally diverse expressed communication challenges in healthcare delivery, “…especially if sociocultural differences are not completely accepted, appreciated, explored or understood [6].”

Additionally, this lack of cultural understanding has shown to increase the negative attitudes “…towards cross-cultural care and also affects healthcare professionals’ perceived preparedness to take care of culturally diverse patients [8].” This anxiety created by the interaction with people from different cultures has an affect on the amount of intercultural communication a person engages themselves in [9]. And with the combination of uncertainty, it can lead to the continuing decrease of effective communication, which can then lead to the increased use of — the word we all know too well today, but don’t have an actionable plan to stop it — stereotypes [10].

From this study it demonstrated that cultural awareness is important for cross-cultural healthcare settings and as well as improving the cultural competence of nurses.

This in short reiterates the significance of cultural awareness, using the example from the health sector.

What do others have to say about culture?

The world is based on the construction of meaning created by others — by humans.

One of the most well-known quotes on culture is stated by Peter Drucker, an Austrian-born American, who is one of the most influential thinkers in management.

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast”, he said.

This indicates that no matter how much effort you put in your strategic plan and how amazing it may turn out — the people and the culture behind this will matter more.

This is because the people are the ones who are building these plans. They are the geese who can lay the golden eggs. They create the environment, the ideas, and the stories that they would like to tell.

We need to invest in culture before strategy. It’s fundamental in order to bridge understanding and lay the golden eggs.

And in a scenario where we are unaware of this culture?

As one of the most well known science-fiction writers of all time, Robert A. Heinlein.

said, “A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot”

My takeaway and perspective is this. In a riot you have opposing groups that identify themselves differently, but this means that they at least have their own cultures.

However, if you have a dying culture, you can’t identify yourself anymore. You lose your sense of values and what is important for you. There isn’t a basis of conduct that you align yourself to. This loss of identity can create dangerous situations, where people may search and be attracted by the wrong group and wrong purpose to represent, for example, by extremist ideas…

Moreover, in the absence of culture, not only are you unaware of yourself, but also are unable to comprehend those of others.

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots” said Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican political activist and leader of the Pan-Africanism movement, connecting people of African descent worldwide.

Again, this accentuates the important quality of culture and cultural competence, allowing people of different backgrounds to connect to their values and roots and to find common connections with others, despite individual differences — that’s the beauty of culture.

I know the story now. I’m interested in knowing what the exact solution is?

So up until now, I have discussed my personal story and also provided some real life examples in order to address the importance of cultural understanding. Hopefully by now, you have a better understanding of the context and intention of me starting this blog and this website.

But…many people are still unaware of the importance of culture. Oblivious of the treasures that it provides us and the extent of its impact.

And for this reason, the mission of Raw Culture, is to normalize open discussions — and it starts with You.

To share your stories of cultural experiences — the point is not to only share good ones — but also to share stories of misunderstandings and how that made you feel.

Where we find common ground through our differences — where we find common ground regardless of all the past, present, and future events — that at the end of the day — we are all humans, privileged to be here together on this planet.

The intention is to connect and understand — and ask yourself, why are you not doing this and how you can do it.

Let us be open for dialogue and work towards a more culturally and socially aware society.

Moving forward…

The goal is to build a community of writers, of story-tellers who are willing to be vulnerable and/or courageous — to share their feelings and experiences on culture.

Why a community?

As Margaret Wheatley says “Relationships are all there is. Everything in the universe only exists because it is in relationship to everything else. Nothing exists in isolation. We have to stop pretending we are individuals that can go it alone.”

Cool, and how can I take part in this community?

I am starting a blog series called #weareothers. The purpose of #weareothers is through telling our own stories, we are able to then cultivate cultural understanding from the readers of our stories — meaning that then we can understand and are able to put ourselves in their shoes and become aware of their culture and become simply #weareothers.

So, the idea is to write and share your cultural story with us. The length is recommended to be between 500–900 words, meaning that it’s not an essay, but just a short story of an experience you had.

So. If you’re ready, which I know you already are, because everyone who is reading this right now has a story to share.

Let’s start writing!

What you need to do to get started on writing:

• Please go here. You will find simple and clear steps on the basic introduction and a few rules to get you 100% onboard. It’s really that simple.
• Do you have friends or family or relatives? Thing is, they also have their own unique cultural stories, why not let them join in on this series together?!

Let’s do this and let’s do this together!

• If you have questions or comments on anything mentioned in this blog or on the website, please don’t hesitate to contact me at joinrawculture@gmail.com.
• If you want to find out more about what Raw Culture is you can click here!
• If you enjoyed this blog and or are anticipating the #weareothers blog series or just want to be a part of this community, then you have the great option to subscribe to our newsletter. There will be weekly new updates for you to stay in touch with us!

What’s happening next in the agenda → stories from different people, each with their individually diverse backgrounds and their unique episodes to share.

Can’t wait for you to join our community of story and cultural lovers!

Let’s connect and contribute to changing the lives of others one story at a time!

Because as Maya Angelou said,

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story in you”