David Bohm's Friendship Across Culture

Improved Essays
The early October Common Book Event “Friendship Across Cultures was presented by Roger Baumgurte Ph.D. He began the event by giving us a real-life scenario about being in the car with a friend, they hit a person and you are the only witness. The question he asked us was “How would you testify being the only witness?” This was a question asked to people in a study about friendships and how different people treat them. The study showed that Americans would testify against the friend, seeing law above friendship; whilst foreigners would testify in favor of the friend. He went on to tell us about in American Democracy friendships are more casual due to our competitive and restless nature. We are a moving forward people, always trying to be the …show more content…
The way he discusses communication between people and being open to different people’s ideas directly relates to maintaining friendships. Any relationship is based off communication, without it there’s no connection. I feel like Americans can take a lot from a piece like this because it shows the benefit of being able to be your own person yet still embrace others. I also believe that Bohm can help to break down the idea of such categories. Placing us into boxes is what essentially breaks us and our relationships apart. This idea ties in Myer’s “Ingroup and Outgroup”; which talks about the benefits and disadvantages of being in a group and on the outside of a group. If someone knows themselves to be an Independent, then that may force them to look towards others like them due to the stigma behind someone who is an Intervener. This causes people to miss out on others who they may end up liking more than the people they’re looking for. Both Myers and Bohm teach us to embrace not only ourselves but others and what they have to offer. We shouldn’t allow ourselves to become so closed off that we miss out on someone amazing, but we also shouldn’t end up so open that we don’t know ourselves. When making new friends this can be a difficult task but once one finds a proper balance then the world truly opens in front of

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