By Alexander Bessey

Vice President of the SMCC Midcoast Club

On March 5th, the Midcoast Club invited Color of Community to the Midcoast campus to share their stories with us. Color of Community is a non-profit organization of Portland area college aged immigrants and refugees. Their mission is to strive to “open people’s minds and hearts, to accept the gifts that each of us offers to the world, and to create a space to listen to the sacred stories that we all have to tell.” They are a dynamic and energetic group who spent the afternoon sharing experiences with us.

In American culture the idea of living an unbiased and inclusive existence is common. The principles of our country revolve around the fair treatment and equal opportunity of everyone; and yet sometimes Americans require a realignment of priorities and values in order to maintain our concepts of equality.

The term “first-world problems” is one that most of us have heard but quite few of us take the time to hold in its proper context. A fender-bender can sometimes feel like the end of the world, but for someone else the end of the world may mean another day without food or safety. I often look for ways to revive my sense of a larger purpose and duty to my fellow human beings; and sometimes these senses of understanding present themselves in unexpected ways.

Before attending the Color of Community event, I was sure that I had a broad view of the human condition, and a concrete understanding of fundamental concepts such as “not judging a book by its cover.”

My experience at the Color of Community event lead me to understand that progress toward an unbiased existence is dependent upon our interactions with fellow peers, students, and neighbors. The Color of Community experience included personal interaction with young adults who have immigrated to the United States under their own unique circumstances.

The educational event included activities that elaborated on elementary concepts of acceptance and our uniformed judgments of others. It also included the sharing of sacred stories: the intimate perspectives and experiences of the Color of Community presenters.

Color of Community was an extremely interactive experience that required the audience to participate. The activities that took place emulated the confusing experience of starting anew in a country with a different language, education system, and culture. The unorthodox exercises and the close interactions that resulted helped to create an authentic feeling of closeness in the room, and an eye-opening introduction to some of the stories and experiences that were shared throughout the course of the evening. While participating in and listening to the demonstration I began to put into perspective the struggles of beginning a new life in a completely new place.

The willingness of the Color of Community group to share intensely personal experiences opened eyes to their mission of cultural education through genuine and challenging interactions. The reactions from both the audience and the presenters both during and after the event were enlightening. Many of the audience members stayed long after the demonstration had concluded in an effort to ask questions and to elaborate on the experience through undirected in-depth conversation.

The feeling of camaraderie was palpable both during and after the presentations conclusion; and as I looked around the buzzing room of audience members and COC presenters I could see genuine friendships and interests developing.

It can be easy to judge a book by its cover. It is infinitely easier to ignore someone than it is to spark up a conversation; but if I learned anything from the Color of Community event, it would be the value of remaining open about our selves and receptive to the openness of others.

We all have a tremendous pool of experiences that we can educate one another with. I deeply admire the efforts of Color of Community to continually spread the ideals of diversity, acceptance, and the dynamic experiences that can be born from natural interaction.