A cultural lesson

The family and I were on our way to Acoma Pueblo for a little cultural trip. Acoma Pueblo is built on a mesa top, and has no electricity or running water. It is considered the longest inhabited village in North America.

A few minutes from the mesa, my wife and I start prepping the kids for what we think might be a possibly embarrasing situation. The kids can be rowdy. We tell them that the Indians have different way of living, and that it would not be polite to point or ask rude questions.

So we get there and we take the tour bus to the top of the mesa. The tour guide shows us all around, including their church, graveyard, and such. Around some of the dwellings are the Acoma people selling their pottery. Others are there going about their daily business.

Near the end of our tour, an older Acoma lady strikes up a conversation with my five-year-old, while I am half listening to the guide. She asks him, "how old are you?"

He tells her.

She then asks, "Have you seen any Indians?" He looks around and say no. She says, "Me neither." She laughs and both go on their way.

At the time I didn't think anything about the exchange. Later it hit me that in the van on the way to Acoma, we had put into his mind something much further afield than was in his own reasoning. He saw the Acoma as just people, the same as himself. The woman who talked to him was clearly wise enough to realize this as well.

He didn't see them as I did: a group oppressed by others for much of their history. Indeed, this lesson was for me; a true reminder to treat people as individuals, regardless of their history, race, or culture.