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Getting Conscious

What makes us stand out, win approval, be accepted in our communities? Is it our looks, the clothes we wear, our race or culture, what we do in the world? Something worth thinking about. Something I started thinking a lot about after reading Roberta Greenwood’s story in this issue about Latina women who launched a group called Mujeres of the Northwest to support each others’ dreams, for their own lives, as well as for their communities.

One of the members of the group says she has felt “invisible” as a Latina in Seattle, despite her accomplishments as a business leader and activist. Unfortunately, she’s not alone. Other minority women have shared her feelings. I’ve also heard middle-aged and elderly women describe themselves the same way. And recently at a dinner with some friends, I made an effort to talk with the two teenage sisters at the table who were quiet and obviously bored amid the lively conversation going on around them. “I feel like we’re invisible,” one of the girls confessed. I realized we had been talking around them, not engaging them in the discussion at all.

Recently navigating Nordstrom on a time-sensitive mission, sans makeup, hair in a ponytail and wearing my oldest jeans, I, too, felt as though I didn’t exist. Passed over by disinterested sales staff, I found myself both amused and irritated. Did I have to dress like I was going on a date just to go shopping?

OK, so really what we’re talking about is judging people by how they look. We don’t like to think that discrimination exists in our hip, northern, liberal city — in the 21st century. None of us likes to think we’re capable of it. But face it, it exists, even if it’s shown in an unconscious manner, bubbling up from deep inside where the sediment of generations of stereotypes, passed-down prejudices and preconceived notions reside.

I wish we could just hand out magic glasses that would let everyone see clearly — see each other as individuals — interesting because of our differences. But maybe it doesn’t have to be so complicated. Maybe all we need to do is get conscious about how we interact with others in the world.

Life will be so much richer for the effort.

Warmest regards to all,

Karen Matthee
Editor and Co-founder

©March 2007 Caliope Publishing Company