I'm a Homo sapien! You?

Oh hihihi,

You know how sometimes you attend a party where you don't really know anyone, so spend most of the night introducing yourself until your tongue is numb? I don't know what that feels like, I stay home, but my point is, oftentimes the small talk veers off into, "So, where are you from?"

"Pickering?" is my usual reply (when meeting strangers not at a party), my voice going high at the end to intone that I have no confidence in my answer. This is to prepare for my companion's predictable follow-up.

"No, I mean where are you from? What is your background?"
"Oh, well, I have a PhD in procrastination and I also enjoy poutine --"

"No, Goddammit, I mean what is your ethnicity?"

At that point, no matter what I say, I never get a second date.

Okay, seriously, I find it odd when people ask that question, but not because it's unreasonable. On the contrary, any similarity allows for instant connection. At my university, I've seen many students happy to meet those of the same background, running towards each other in slow motion to unite in romantic embraces. And then all these different ethnic groups travel in little herds for the rest of their time at school, happy to be among their own kind (and the Most Patronizing Writer award goes to...).

I just think it's weird because, being a visible minority myself, I have never made use of my Indian radar. My strongest and longest friendships are with those of completely different races and cultural backgrounds. Throughout our formative years and innumerable moments together, never even in jest did we ponder our differences in skin colour or cultural activities, even though in hindsight, it was obvious we were quite exotic to each other. Not until I reached university and noticed blatant racial and cultural segregation did it hit me that it must be easier to make friends with people of similar ethnicity. I now realize that my childhood friends unintentionally embraced my own cultural nuances without batting an eye, and we saw each other as nothing but fellow human beings.

I'm sure our friendship was facilitated by other, more substantial commonalities, but I've known these wonderful people for over a decade and it blows my mind that to this day, we see past all the facets of our ancestry straight into each others' hearts. We bond because of the words we speak, the ideas we have, and the new memories we form each time we meet.

Like I said before, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having a foundation of shared culture, language, etc., to start off a relationship, but what if we were drawn to people because of deeper characteristics that we all share?

Let's just be friends because we are all human.
...I probably won't come to your parties, though. Juss' sayin'.