I am Latina; I grew up around telenovelas, full of passion, love, and Catholic guilt. Needless to say, emotions were front and center. So, the idea that I could control my thoughts and emotions was striking and incredibly empowering.
This is probably the reason why I was so enthralled by the protagonist, Don, in The Rosie Project. His world is devoid of human emotion and social filters, and thus has difficulty functioning properly in society. For example:
A woman at the rear of the room raised her hand. I was focused on the argument now and made a minor social error, which I quickly corrected.
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
“The fat woman—overweight woman—at the back?”
She paused and looked around the room, but then continued, “Rational detachment…”
I cringe slightly at the interaction, but can you imagine a purely logical world? I’m pretty sure there are several setbacks, but it also seems profoundly liberating for a person who has been dominated by emotions her whole life (me).
Now, though, I realize I can have the best of both worlds. I don’t have to be controlled by my thoughts or emotions; I can control them. Of course, it’s not like a switch has been turned off, BUT I now have the tools to control them.
An example of how this lesson works out in the real world. I grew up in Los Angeles, and diversity is part of my DNA. Since LA is a hodge-podge of immigrants, the “where you from” is unimportant. However, after over a decade of living in Taiwan, I used to get profoundly annoyed at the fact that even though I’ve made Taiwan my home for the past 10 years, I constantly get asked, “Where are you from?” It evokes inner turmoil and constantly reminds me that I don’t belong. My newfound tools have allowed me to respond in one of two ways
- I start to bombard them with facts about my beautiful country (we have delicious spicy food, our culture is very colorful, we love celebrating life, have you seen the movie Coco?) so that they can guess.
- I answer their questions and parrot their own questions back to them. It gets a bit awkward when they ask about salary (in my defense, they started it.)
However, both paths allow for a more in-depth interaction instead of the routine interview format. I also feel a bit more seen and not just labeled by my country of origin.
Suley 