Jun 24 2008
Awareness and Sticks of Butter
Hej, I’m JM! I blog sporatically over at Jan vs. Wild (janvswild.blogspot.com). I’m a 25-year old astronomer, originally from the US, but currently living in Denmark where “Jan” is exclusively a boy’s name. But, I am in fact a girl. There is no end to the fun my name has caused. I have been reading Brillig’s blog forever, but being a lazy lurker, I never actually made contact with her to tell her how cool I think she is. So this guest post can be my way of fixing that. Brillig is awesome! There, I finally said it. Now, down to brass tacks…
I had this super-awesome idea for a post for Brillig’s blog, but then I got bogged down writing a HUGE astronomy paper which is due shortly, and I didn’t have time to write the amazing post I had imagined. So, instead I decided to just edit a recent email into a less-than-brilliant, but hopefully somewhat passable post instead. Here goes:
Today I was looking for a good recipe for yeast rolls, and I was getting so frustrated with all the recipes that say “one stick butter.” Me being me, I blamed all Americans and ranted to my brother “I hate how Americans think that everyone in the world is just like them! Does it not occur to anyone that maybe butter isn’t sold in the same sized “sticks” everywhere in the world?! Couldn’t they put a real measurement like “1/4 cup” or something?” (I realize that would still be ambiguous to those people here in Europe that measure in grams and such.) Then we started talking about how so many recipes call for “one package yeast” and how we have only ever bought yeast in packages weighing a pound or more, so making the conversion to tablespoons or something was also frustrating. Honestly, I STILL have no idea exactly how much a “package” of yeast is….
Eventually these somewhat trivial topics led to a discussion about how so many people don’t even realize that maybe other peoples’ lives are different than theirs. It doesn’t even occur to them, so they don’t think about it. My brother works in accessibility and he said “that’s the biggest challenge with accessibility and the whole disability thing, is just getting people to recognize that not everybody in the world is exactly like them.” They always say not to judge someone until you have “walked a mile in their shoes,” and I totally believe that. I think if everyone made an effort to think about other people’s situations, and wonder if maybe they were fundamentally different in some way, there would be fewer arguments, fights, misunderstandings, wars, etc. One of my favorite songs has a verse that says, “In the quiet heart is hidden sorrow that the eye can’t see.” I just love this. I think if we could all see the sorrows that were hidden in others’ hearts, we would interact with them so differently. Maybe we wouldn’t get quite so annoyed with the bank teller than was short with us, or get mad when the guy ahead of us on the road cut us off, or whatever.
My brother and I concluded that one of the biggest problems in the world is that so many people assume everyone uses “sticks of butter” and “packages of yeast” and so even though they aren’t necessarily “bad” people, they just don’t understand when something is different than the way they think it is, or the way they have always known. So they react in perhaps a negative way. I always thought the word “awareness” was mostly just a buzzword, and most people who used it didn’t even really know what they were talking about, but I think now I understand what it means, or should mean.
So, I shall end this post with a challenge for everyone to try to increase their “awareness.” Be it awareness of a disability, of a struggle someone else is going through, of a difference in measurement systems between countries, or something else entirely. I promise it will change the way you interact with people. At least, it did for me.
Let me apologize if this post seems a little incoherant or choppy. I hope it makes sense. I am in the middle of writing a paper (whoo-hoo) and just took a break to finish this before I forgot about it. Thanks for reading!!!
Awesome thoughts. Now I’m wanting to go and find all the conversions you talked about, but I’ll leave that to someone with more time.
Thanks for sharing.
Great post. My kids and I started this thing when we are out and about traveling and some othere driver does something really stupid. Instead of ranting and raving about stupid, idiot drivers, we make up reasons for them to have done what they just did. such as:
her 5 year old son just got off of the bus and she is not there to greet him so he will be alone and she is scared for him,
or, His wife is really really sick and the ambulance just left their house and he is afraid she will die before he gets to the hospital
or even,
They just found out that their house burned down while they were at school
After awhile it starts to get ridiculous and we start laughing and forget about what started it, but the thing is, it makes us realize that there really could be a reason for the driving and not just bad driving.
What?! You mean everyone out there isn’t a crazy paintbrush-wielding, piano-playing, Scrabble junkie who craves black licorice? I had no idea.
Awareness is HUGE. The first step to compassion.
Hey Jan, how is Denmark. Recently I saw on 60 Minutes it is considered the happiest country on earth, and with all the unhappy events going on in American have begun considering moving there.
I have felt similar frustration when trying to cook from a few old-fashioned recipes in my family. A packet of this, an egg-sized bit of that…
Hej right back at you!
Love the thought that we are all different and have different perspectives, and yet isn’t it awesome in all the ways we are the same. A smile means the same thing in every language, every country, every culture.
I tried cooking Risgrynsgröt and had the darndest time trying to figure out what mycket svag varm means.
Har det bra and good luck with school!
It was fine; I LOVED the message. Somehow, only about 10% of the human race ever thinks about that idea, truly, it is at the heart of so much of the grief we inflict on one another and the bad feelings we harbor towards one another. This is one of the concepts that could really lead to peace on earth.
I so get the measurments thing. When I was little and learning the measuring systems ….here in the US no less…we were taught the Metric System. We were told back in the mid 1970s that the whole world was going Metric so we needed to only learn Metric.
I still cannot tell you what all those lines are between 1 inch and 2 inch markers on a ruler. The “English” measurements confuse the poop outta me! Metric is so much easier.
As our world shrinks, our personal borders have to expand. Great post!
You actually make a pretty good point. BTW, I’m of Dutch descent, so I’ve known a number of male Jans in the States. I’m guessing they didn’t have it any easier.
Well, I can help you with the stick of butter thing… sort of! It’s a half a cup. And if I weren’t at my in-laws I could give you the metric too as I have a fancy magnet on my fridge that gives me all these nice conversions.
If you’re interested I got it through colorfulimages.com
As for the packet of yeast… I think it’s somewhere around 2 tablespoons… the metric would be on my magnet as well!
And also useful when you buy yeast in bulk or in a jar when you use it frequently like some of my friends do.
With time we all must change our thinking and doing too.
I THINK a package of yeast is two tablespoons, but just for you? I’m gonna go check and get back to you on that.
A modernized ‘butter dish’ that quickly and cleanly serves elegant pats of butter. Easy to operate and clean, functions as advertised and is a handy and clean way to store butter.