I have a class called "forestry" which is a vocational class and I meet with them once per week. We have met on numerous occasions and I help them with their labs and their English while they help me with my Spanish. In all of our previous meetings it has gone this way. However, today was different.
We had only something small planed but in 50min. we didn't manage to accomplish it. At the start of class a student had a question for me and that evolved into a whole period of question-and-answer interaction.
I was asked many questions that are related to American culture, politics both national and global as well as American stereotypes. At first they were simple questions like do I hunt and by the end it was what do I think about the US-Israel relationship! I did my best to provide diplomatic answers to questions that seemed a bit sensitive and attempted to remind them that we are all people whether from Spain or the US or wherever.
Some of the topics that were most interesting to them were our "fascination" with guns (as well as our freedom to use them in self defense if someone were to break in your house or otherwise intent on mortally injuring you) and our consumption and procurement of natural resources.
The gun topic started out simple enough, one of the students had recently shot a wild boar and he asked if I hunt. The next question of course was if I owned any guns followed by would I use them if someone broke in my house. In Spain it is legal to own a gun, provided that you have a permit of course, but the use of a gun to shoot another person even if that person intends to kill you is, according to the students I was speaking with, illegal. This line of questioning was facinating for them and they continued asking "what if..." scenarios. I tried to explain that you can't just shoot someone for no reason and that generally speaking that the other person must present a clear, inescapable threat to you. You can't just shoot someone who is breaking into your car if they present no clear danger directly to you. All the while I'm thinking, I am not a lawyer and I am in NO way qualified to answer these questions! I tried to tread lightly on the specifics but to make it clear that generally Americans don't go around shooting each other and if one were to do so there is a legal consequence. So much pressure to answer their questions tactfully though!
The other issue was about fossil fuels. They asked if I was okay with my country going around stealing oil from other countries; no exaggeration that is how the question started! I was a little taken aback by that one. I tried to artfully dodge it to the best of my abilities because it seemed to involve our invasion of Iraq. It appeared like a slippery slope and a potential for an argument, which certainly is not my goal here. I simply said that we produce about half of what we use and we buy the rest from other sources. I asked them if they knew how much Spain produced and if they themselves owned a car. This seemed to provide me with a chance to escape to a new topic and I jumped at it!
The final question was difficult for me to understand. A student hummed the national anthem and asked if we sing it. Finally I figured out that they thought that we forced students to sing the national anthem at the beginning of each class. I immediately pictured some sort of fascist state... kids in Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union! I tried to explain that it isn't the national anthem it is the pledge of allegiance, it is only once a day and, at least in my experience, students may choose not to recite it as long as they are respectful while others recite it.
Ugh! It was an intense and interesting conversation but one that I think is important for me to have with the curious students I encounter here. I think as American's we need to be more aware of how the people of the world perceive us and thoughtful about our interactions with them.
Note: the title of this entry is a quote from Die Hard and it is what popped into my head when I thought about the topic of this entry!
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