Elevate from the ignorance

I've been blessed to travel all over the United States and the World. I've seen some amazing places and more importantly met some fantastic people. Different cultures, traditions, foods, drinks & music make this world a very interesting place. It's hard to imagine how much I have learned from others... absorbing just a little bit of each persons background as I meet them and engage into what is really local.  The adventure of my eyes and heart seems to always hit a speed bump when  my new friends ask me this simple question: " So, where are you from?"

It seems simple enough and I have been very proud to answer that I am from Hot Springs, Arkansas.

The issues really come in when my new found friends find out where I live - it is how they respond.  Here is just a small sampling of what people have said directly to me.

• "So you drive a truck and gun rack and eat squirrels for breakfast" - London
• "Don't all people from Arkansas go barefoot and are pregnant? "- Arizona
• "Why would anyone live there? Isn't it all mobile homes and people with 19 kids?" - Sweden
• "I didn't know there was internet in Arkansas" - New York
• "You aren't married to your sister are you?" - California
• "That's where you can't float a river without the banjo playing Deliverance scene" - Germany
• " Wow, I've never met a hillbilly before! " -Amsterdam

There are many more - and it's a repeating pattern. Somehow, most people I meet know so little about Arkansas that they believe only the negative stereotype. Most have never been here - most never will. 

It is true that Arkansas has it's share of negative, some historical, some present. We need to own our past as history and work hard to change the baggage of today. But more than the negative, we really do have much to be proud of, yet how to overcome the negative stereotype in the world. 

Personally I struggle with just how to respond when someone so directly makes a disparaging remark about where I live.  My wife reminds me to take the high road and always remember that these people just have little awareness of anything more than a tabloid headline.  Many times, I just want to strike back, but I know that would get me nowhere. Rising above their ignorance has become a standard practice as I travel. 

I don't think that all people in Louisiana live like the Swamp People on TV, nor do I think everyone in Amsterdam is a hooker/drug addict, and not everyone in California a surfer or an actor.  It's pretty shallow to cast broad strokes about a city/state based on a very limited view.  Just imagine if people believed that everyone in New Jersey was like Snookie because of Jersey Shore.  Sad. 

Embrace places that are different from where you live. Learn about more than the surface headlines. Hear the hearts of the locals, and assume that there must be more to the area than what you saw on a reality TV show.