My older sister is a lifeguard and teaches swimming lessons at our neighbourhood’s local pool. She’ll often come home with stories after her shift, sharing how little kids were so scared to go swimming. They screamed and cried to their moms and dads about how they didn’t want to go in, begging them to let them stay dry on the deck. Thinking about it, I guess it is quite understandable. None of us like to the leave of comfort of what we know and understand to enter somewhere unfamiliar and unknown. Without understanding what lies beneath the water it becomes very easy to make assumptions and judgments about what is there. My sister will tell stories of kids explaining to her that they won’t be able to touch and that there are monsters down there, both of which are not true. Yet because of their unfamiliarity with the pool they make it up to a big demon that it is not. 
I think in a lot of cases this is really similar to the racism and hostility towards one another that exists in our world today. So often we make judgments and assumptions about other people or cultures mostly based not on fact but fear or misunderstanding. Like my sister’s students so many of us don’t understand different cultures or religions and allow our lack of awareness to drive our fear and actions.
One thing she notices about her classes is that usually if two or three of her students are scared and crying, then almost always they will all be as well. It is hard for one child to break away from the group and be brave enough to enter the water by themselves. Like children we feed off of the pack mentality. What is the status quo often results in common opinion and behaviour. When it is widely accepted at a school to make fun of the new exchange student, it makes it much easier for people to engage in it or turn a blind eye when it happens. A recent survey done by the University of Saskatchewan showed that nearly 50% indigenous students on campus felt that it was just a part of life to be made fun of for being aboriginal. Take a moment to think about that and how that requires an incredibly large group of people perpetrating these abuses in addition to many watching without saying anything because they view it as being normal.
The most incredible thing though is that once one child enters the water the rest will often follow or be more willing to do so. Having the courage to step away from the pack mentality and into the unknown leaves you to be vulnerable and it can be terrifying. But time and time again once one person has the courage to step into the unknown many people will follow suit. Take Rosa Parks for example, think of how terrifying it must have been for her to refuse to move seats, to refuse what was opposed upon her and enter the unknown. Sure, it was terrifying but the movement that followed her would most certainly vouch that it was worth it.
My favorite part of the stories my sister shares is when she’s finally able to encourage a child into the water. After they play for a while and begin to splash around in the pool, any fear they once had is wiped away as if it never existed. The child begins to realize that they were wrong about the water. They were wrong about its safety and what lies beneath and ended up surprising themselves to what they were missing out on. The longer they spend in it, the more they forget about the fear they once had. Like David Foster Wallace said, “the longer you swim in a culture, the more invisible it becomes”. The more time we spend in the unknown, the more comfortable we become, breaking down the barriers we set for ourselves and opening our eyes to new possibilities and people.