Food for All - Susan Park

These past few weeks, certain reactions from our students have surprised and confused me.This is a result of my presumptuous thoughts, which I am sure most people have without even having tried to reason through them.

During lunch time, our partner organization St. Andrews provides free meal for our students. At first glance, the meal looks unappetizing with nude colored beans and no utensils to eat with. In fact, you simply dip bread into this porridge-like creation. Honestly, I did not even want to taste it (When I did try it, it tasted a lot better than it looked) . However, I must admit that I was surprised to see similar reactions from our students. Perhaps I, without having truly thought about it, assumed that since the students are refugees, they must be used to this kind of meal. One of my students frowned at the bowl of food and balked at taking a step closer to it. Only when the teachers set an example did the students shyly take some food.

On another day when we had taamiya instead of the usual bean porridge, the students actually welcomed food. One of our students told me that this is food. He explained that he realizes that he is a refugee and that he is grateful for us teachers, but that they wanted to eat something delicious. In the end, however, it was not about the taste of the food that mattered (because as I have said before, it did not taste bad at all) but the difference between what the students and I thought about the food.

Why did we assume that they would welcome a meal that looked unappetizing? Why did we assume that they would welcome a meal that we, American students, balked at? What right do we have to judge what is acceptable to others? Don't people deserve the same treatments regardless of their backgrounds?

I believe that these assumptions arise from overestimating the status of being an American and undermining those of others. However, I also believe that these unquestioned assumptions are what leads to human rights violation all around the world. This is why ignorance and lack of thought are dangerous. Realizing this, it is even more critical to dispel unquestioned assumptions arising from ignorance of all people.