Well that made me uncomfortable.

Tonight I had to think.
It wasn't very comfortable.

There are certain movies that are out there that make you think. Now, I'm not referring to some mind-bending sci-fi plot that makes you wonder if you're living inside of a dream; I'm talking about movies that deal with societal issues. They're deep. They're serious. And they make you uncomfortable.

As part of my intercultural communications course, I watched The Help. I thought it was very well done, and enjoyed watching it. It's not exactly the kind of movie I'm going to watch repeatedly every Friday night now, but I'm glad I watched it.

There are so many issues of cultural prejudices that it touched on. I knew going into it that the movie would deal with racism and issues between blacks and whites in the 1960s; what I didn't realize, however, is that it would also deal with social classes, gender, and the elderly. It even touches on same-sex attraction.

I'm not going to explain at length the movie; I'll let you watch it for yourself. I will, however, share my thoughts after watching.

The movie made me uncomfortable, and this is my third time telling you that. Why was it so? Because watching it made me open up and examine my own life. And as much as I like putting on the image of some stellar dude that can do no wrong, I'm not. When I look down deep, and get down and dirty with myself, I realize that I am not as free from racism as I'd like to think I am. I judge people far too often. When dealing with people who speak English as a second language, I'm far too likely to discredit them because of their inability to speak the language. However, when I take the time and make the effort to get to know them, I find bright, talented individuals.I met a man once on a job site who is Russian. His English is terrible, enough that I finally just started texting and emailing him (and yes our communications improved dramatically). There were some problems that arose, and he was the first to offer help and resolution. Through the course of the project, I got to know him a little more, and gained a great respect for him.

Another example that comes to mind is being quick to judge based on class. I've been working on this and am hopefully doing better, but that pride thing is a tough animal to beat. How often do we not want to talk to someone because we have judged their social class? Or as soon as we find out that someone is gay, our skin is crawling til we get out of the room. It sounds awful, but gut check here- has it happened? If that's something you honestly haven't encountered, then kudos to you. The rest of us, however, are still working on it.

Now I'm not calling myself a racist pig here. I honestly believe that I am fairly open minded and I try to be kind to all I meet. But the point I understand tonight is that these are real things, all around us. We didn't beat this in the 60s with the civil rights movement. We didn't beat it in the 80s and 90s with all our fancy legislation. Steps forward? Yes. Improvement? Definitely. But we aren't perfect at it.

I think the key is keeping in mind that people we meet, although they are different from us, are still human beings. They're individuals with talents, desires and a heart of their own.

My resolve is to make a better effort to treat people as, well, people. My resolve is to be less quick to judge, and more quick to get to know someone for who they are. I have repeatedly found in my life that the more I get to know people, the better I like them. Just spend a few minutes on their facebook page, and you'll find that there's a person there worth knowing. So I'm going to get uncomfortable. I'm going to make efforts that I normally wouldn't, I'm going to get to know people, and set aside differences and prejudices.

Go on- get uncomfortable too. You'll be glad you did.

Have you had any uncomfortable experiences? Leave a comment about it, or about your plans to get uncomfortable!