A Recipe for Acceptance

“Thanks to [Felipe] I became the only huinca able to understand the Mapuche, but it would take nearly a year. I just wrote, ‘understand the Mapuche,’ but that is a fantasy. We will never understand one another; there is too much accumulated resentment between us.”

                Inés of my Soul by Isabel Allende, page 181

           

                   

The Spanish vs. the Mapuche. What a perfect storm it was when the two met. Both proud, hard headed, and spirited. But it was the Spaniards’ arrogance that about did them in. They treated the Indians horrendously and were duplicitous. They made no honest effort to reach an agreement with the Mapuche and figuratively but also quite literally burned bridges between them, making it impossible for them ever understand each other.                         

I am in the army reserves and contracted in BYU’s army ROTC program and every so often guest speakers come and talk to us about their experiences in the military, the world, and life in general. Last semester retired Major General Loeffke (pronounced ‘love-key’) visited. This man has an amazing resume. Among his many admirable achievements is the fact that he speaks five languages- English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and Cantonese. He imparted upon us some wisdom he has learned from the years he spent interacting with other cultures.

Maj. General Loeffke leads us in a repetition of "I'm proud to be an American"

How to be Acceptable in Any Society- according to Major General Loeffke: 

1-Be a healer. Learn basic healing techniques.

2- Sing. You don’t have to sing well. Sing songs from your culture, then learn songs from theirs.

3-Entertain. Magic tricks, origami, jokes, etc

Inés doesn’t say that the Spanish and the Mapuche  will never understand each other because it is fundamentally impossible. They never will because of all the ‘accumulated resentment.’  Resentment spawning from the Spanish having no DESIRE to understand the Mapuche. I believe Gerneal Loeffke would be disguted with most Spaniard but approving of Inés. She befriended  Catalina and they learned healing arts from eachother. She made an effort to learn the Mapuche language, which General Loeffke would say is vital to understanding the culture.

It seems that to understand another culture one must have a desire to do so. It does not mean that you have to abandon your own culture, you just need to stretch your mind and heart to fit around theirs.