Sipping away at a cup of coffee is an action that seems fairly irrelevant in our daily lives, however I was led to believe that this couldn’t be further from the truth when I attended a lecture last week about exercising our sociological imagination. Doing so encourages us to read between the lines and think more deeply about seemingly meaningless events.
I very quickly realised that a lot of my life revolves around coffee! There is not much I enjoy more than sitting in a quiet coffee shop enjoying a flat white either with friends or just watching the world go by. Also the fact that I work in a speciality coffee shop that has been recognised in the ‘Scottish Independant Coffee Guide’. It is extremely interesting to observe the ‘art’, if you like, of coffee drinking. People come to us to start their day, or to catch up with friends or family, or to simply “wake them up!”. The point I am trying to make here is that everything we do has much deeper meaning than meets the eye, our actions start a chain reaction of events. I think this is something important to remember when discussing the issues of racism and patriarchy.
Whilst sometimes we may joke about these issues and believe that it means no harm I think it is important to understand the lasting effect this type of behaviour can have.
I personally found the lecture on Tuesday extremely interesting and thought provoking. I suppose that’s because the idea that one person could discriminate against another purely because they are different to themselves is something I find truly fascinating, yet completely baffling.
Aspects of racism and patriarchy are unfortunately embedded deep in the foundations of society, making them exceedingly difficult to eradicate. However, I believe that education is key to breaking down the walls of both racism and patriarchy that have been built by generations past.
In my future career as a primary school teacher I understand that I hold a huge responsibility to display a positive attitude that is accepting of all and treats individuals equally. Especially as children’s young minds are extremely impressionable and are in the process of forming opinions that can last a lifetime.
It is my hope that with the right education we can change how people think in terms of racism and patriarchy, maybe in doing so we will one day see a world without such discrimination.
