At this point, news of the “Around the World” party, and the offensive social media post related to the party, has spread around Dickinson. This has led to discussions about how “we can educate ourselves on cultural appreciation versus cultural appropriation.”

While this is a good question, we should expand beyond education on the issue and look at how all of us can enact a posture of cultural appreciation. I would recommend one thing in particular: listening to and learning from other cultures.

This may be common sense to some people, but this is something that our campus community doesn’t do often enough. What this means is that, if we want to be truly welcoming of other cultures, we need to listen to and learn from people from other cultures.

Part of this listening to/learning about other cultures may result in some humiliating occurrences. For me, a particularly embarrassing moment was when I blew my nose at an Afghani restaurant.

My father told me, “Brendan…don’t blow your nose! The people here may be culturally offended by blowing your nose in their presence!”

I had no intention of humiliating anyone, especially since I was dealing with a nosebleed, but it was through this somewhat embarrassing moment that I learned that it’s offensive in many cultures to blow your nose in the presence of other people. I hope that others can also learn through their moments of embarrassment, just like I did.

Of course, listening to and learning about other cultures involves a posture of humility, a posture that many of us are not accustomed to. Many of us may like to think that we know it all, and that we don’t need to ask anyone for help or guidance.

For people who think like that, humble yourselves. You don’t know everything, and it is okay to not know everything. As long as you have open ears and an open heart, you will be in much better company than a bunch of the anonymous Yik Yak posters.

This is not to say that my recommendation will work 100% of the time. However, I think that this notion of listening to and learning about other cultures directly from members of that culture can increase all of our chances of cultural appreciation.