Anti Bias

I recently had the chance to take a class on anti bias with Katie Kissinger (who wrote a great children’s book on the subject that everyone should read at least once a day to their little ones called “All the Colors We Are” http://www.amazon.com/All-Colors-We-Are-colores/dp/0934140804/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273598010&sr=1-1-spell). This was an eye opening experience for me. I have always thought of myself as a person with few biases (is that a word), or little prejudice. In this class I have came to see the many ways that cultural bias influences me. For instance, I catch myself daydreaming about when my girls get married or when they have kids – not if, but when. Well, what if they don’t get married – or at least not in that traditional white dress, diamond ring way. If what I really dream for them is that they have the courage to follow their True Nature, then I have to be present with those little assumptions and be careful that they do not leak form me to them in the subtle ways (or sometimes not so subtle ways) that tends to be the nature of these things. Worth the price of admission right there.

The other result is that I see bias in others in a much more glaring way. Ever notice how once your perception is opened up anew, you can’t stop seeing it everywhere. Like when you become aware of a new car that you want and you never even knew it existed before and then like magic you start to see them everywhere. It is just like that. Take a moment and thinking about the ways that you carry cultural bias about gender, socio-economic class, skin color, culture, disability or ableness, family configuration and sexual orientation. I bet if you take a close look, you will find things you never knew where there. I did. It is worth doing because those little things are going to get passed to your children if you are not aware of them, if you don’t take the time to notice them and make a conscious effort to change them.