AuDN4T

I think about these cultural days where we celebrate our differences. Ukrainians have embroidered shirts with different designs from different regions. They say it’s like a DNA code. Different regions will have different colours and designs. Some might even indicate a family code, similar to a family crest. It would tell ancestors who they can or cannot marry if their embroidered shirt had a symbol from their family.

We need to have more celebration of everyone’s culture and detailed rituals/clothing. There’s so much we can learn from each other. Find special details that give us some significance and meaning to general life to appreciate.

I know in some cases we have families who have been in Canada for many generations and are not in touch with their ancestor’s ethnic background. That is ok. You can always look at your current life culture. There’s also still options to learn where you came from, learn who your ancestors were. I remember overhearing a conversation at Petroglyphs Provincial Park (a park that displays indigenous rock carvings) and these individuals were talking about learning more about their ancestral backgrounds. They were white passing, you’d never think they were indigenous but that is the beautiful thing about us all, we never really know where a person is from until you actually hear their story and what their journey is. Sometimes it can be painful based on what they learn (I think about my own journey with AuDHD and how it has its ups and downs). You learn painful truths. You learn about the trauma. You learn to respect the adversity and journey your ancestors went through and at the same time respect for others going through a similar path.

It’s a human parallel path of sympathizing for others with similar but different stories. Sometimes we learn our ancestors caused trauma while others were victim of trauma caused by others. We learn our privilege in whatever intersectionality we fall into.

When we learn from our history and others, I think we can heal as a whole.

Coming from a Polish and Ukrainian background; a Ukrainian peasant family (that were serfs under Polish rule) and a family of Polish nobility… this can be paradoxical. Having a mom who helped people as a nurse, while a father who would bully people and steal shoes from people in town in Poland… again paradoxical. We know what’s right and wrong and what we should be doing and that is the path we should go through with. No bullying and stealing people’s shoes (I have no idea what caused him to do that but I’m troubled by that fact). I know he feels remorseful for what he’s done in those situations but I think we need to teach our kids better. We also need to make sure this world is built for everyone and the generations to come.

On a side note: I always found it odd that my father would talk about mentioning my name in his town and see how people would treat me in a positive manner. Yes, it’s a name of nobility, but how many are there with the same last name (31,000+). And then you have the name variations. So I’m just “born on Christmas Day” and a “warlike son”. LOL. I don’t know how I feel about that. Maybe I’m just battling my own battles as a human and trying to make it more better for others. I wish it wasn’t that difficult.

Message for today: Embrace differences. Try different food (if you need safe foods, ask for safe foods); you’ll be surprised how yummy food is from different cultures. It’s a good way to bond with people who are different from you. There’s always some sort of commonality you can find in different cultures or a favourite difference that inspires you.