SOCS 350 Week 3 Discussion 1 Take a Walk

SOCS 350 Week 3 Discussion 1 Take a Walk Take a Walk Let's start this discussion by sharing public observations. Spend time either walking around or sitting and watching people in a very busy public place. Look for things that you associate with people from race/ethnic, cultural, gender, and social-class backgrounds that are different from your own. Look for the kinds of common interactions or behaviors between different groups and those like your own. For example, do they acknowledge the other's presence if eye contact happens to occur? Do any behaviors change in the presence of other groups? Consider what you expect to see based on your assumptions and understandings about persons of different backgrounds (how you expect them to dress, walk, talk, interact with each other, interact with others, etc). Make note of those things that catch your attention. Pay special attention to what you don't see as well. In two to three paragraphs, share your observations with the class. Please begin your post with, "In my observation..." In my observation this weekend at the beach, in Fort Lauderdale, we encountered many people. The gentleman that valeted our car was Hispanic and extremely friendly, he was resourceful and helpful, making direct eye contact and said every word with a smile. Once in the resort, we were surrounded by people from all over the world. While sitting on the deck, there was a Middle Eastern couple with a young son to our right. The husband was rude, he spoke very loudly to everyone and especially while on his cell phone. During his telephone conversation, after every couple of words, he would spit on the deck. My family and I were disgusted. So disgusted that we left the deck and went to the beach. As the kids and their cousins swam, I sat on my comfy blanket and read this week’s reading assignment. At the same time, my sister, whom is studying as well, pulled out her book and began reading and highlighting. A young Anglo American woman walked up to us and said, “Are y’all in school, ‘cause those books look too big for me”. We all laughed and answered her questions. Shortly after our conversation started, she asked if she could pray for us in our studies. We graciously accepted. I never would have imagined that coming in all my years. Directly in front of us was a family of Asian descent, they were running up and down the beach and having, what looked like a great time. They never spoke to us and we never spoke to them. To our left was a biracial couple, an African-American husband and his Anglo wife, with one son. The wife stared, but never spoke, whereas, the husband spoke and did their son. It is amazing how, in the course of a day, we can see and nearly meet so many people, and then there are times that the one person you never thought you would meet, surprises you. As a matter of fact, after the young lady prayed with my sister and me, she left. We look at each other and laughed, both of us saying, we did not expect that. As a biracial person, I am used to being stared at or outright asked, “What are you”; so for the multiple experiences that we encountered at the beach, I must say, it really was not anything out of the ordinary with the exception of our new found praying friend. Call me naïve, but I believe in the ideology of America’s forefathers as written on our lecture, “that all men are created equal and each one should have the right to strive for success or failure without inherited advantage”. I believe that we will come upon a day in which people are not discriminated against. Unfortunately, as humans we can naturally be judgmental and with that said, we may simple turn one bad thing off to turn another one on. This leaning experience reinforces for me how different we can be and at the same time how alike. Yes, we all may live a little differently, but each of us found enjoyment in the same place, so we cannot be that different. References: Devry University. Week 3 Lecture. (2014). Online Publication. Retrieved from