What's with race and religion?

Hi.

In my working life I've worked with people from a variety of backgrounds. Sydney itself is a place where a multitude of people from different backgrounds gather, and intermingle freely without any issue.

Of course if you're in the States reading this, you'll know how sensitive a topic this can be. Ever since slavery, it seems, the issue of race has been intertwined with the haves and have nots, the powerful and the downtrodden. Hence the conflict born out of this situation.

And of course we have the interminable Arab-Israeli conflict.

Occasionally, in my own life, the issue of race pops up. For example, when my girlfriend is in the CBD and sees a woman in full burqa. Window shopping for jewellery. She couldn't help but feel deeply disturbed by the sight - a woman clad head to foot with only a slit for her eyes. She told me it made her feel disturbed to think how repressed women must be by that culture, and how strange it is to see that in Australia.

I know how she feels - every so often the intersection of cultures causes internal friction - not that it's anyone's fault, it just seems that one's own consciousness is challenged out of a sort of emotional comfort zone into encompassing someone else's reality.

I think that's what challenges me the most- when I suddenly encounter someone else's psychic reality, it can throw up all sorts of mental debris. Prejudices, misconceptions and just plain errors.

Once its all said and done, the best I feel I can do each day is to take each person on their merit. To abandon any fears, and just go with what is presented to me in each moment. After all, if the person is treating me fairly and decently, I really have no reason at all to be concerned!