How I Deal with a Multi-cultural World in College .
College life can take a lot of adjusting to. I learned that most of it does not have to do with assignments or tests, but rather getting along in life in general. With that comes a need for tolerance and blindness. A kind of blindness that cannot see what is physical on the outside but what is spiritual inside. I came to grips with my own inner prejudices when I had the experience of attending an H.B.C.U. I realized that I was used to seeing and interacting with people who were of different races. The faces of people began to blur in front of me and the culture and minds melded to form a gray matter. I loathed going to classes and I became introverted. I was not aware of my loathing of everyone until a friend from high school literally pulled me out of a daze. I was so used to lumping everyone together that I did not even recognize a familiar face. While I was getting over my initial shock, she stood there staring at me. She asked how I was doing and if I liked going to school. Not wanting to admit to my prejudices, I replied I was doing ok and I liked it well enough. She laughed and said it was funny that I did like it because it didn't seem like my sort of scene. When I went home that night I realized that in some ways I was molding everyone in the same category, black, ghetto, hip-hoppers who were in college because it is a trend. I also realized that it was culture shock and I was very different from a lot of the student body. The constant harassment by people who were considered my peers was more than I could take. The fact that I was in skin the same color as theirs and was expected to not only accept the life style but adopt it as my own seemed repulsive to me. It took me to the other end of the spectrum where I began to hate my self and the way I knew people perceived me. Now I maintain an equilibrium with myself and others around me by doing my best to keep as many different people from different walks of life as possible.
