Comments on: Mixed Marriage http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2010/07/18/mixed-marriage/ A Voice for Tikkun Olam (healing the world) Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:04:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Elizabeth Cunningham http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2010/07/18/mixed-marriage/comment-page-1/#comment-13271 Elizabeth Cunningham Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:33:34 +0000 http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/?p=14082#comment-13271 Thoughtful questions! Thoughtful questions!

]]> By: Elizabeth Cunningham http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2010/07/18/mixed-marriage/comment-page-1/#comment-13270 Elizabeth Cunningham Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:32:52 +0000 http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/?p=14082#comment-13270 Thank you for sharing your story here. Thank you for sharing your story here.

]]> By: Just Jack http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2010/07/18/mixed-marriage/comment-page-1/#comment-13225 Just Jack Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:34:09 +0000 http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/?p=14082#comment-13225 Moira, your experiences touched me this morning. This is the great stuff of cultural depth and tribal knowledge. What sparked a fire in my mind when I was reading your comment was, "It made me aware as a woman just how much I represented the property of the White world, particularly the White male as my husband was treated time and again as a thief who'd stolen from them." How did you handle being that "embodiment" of property and how did your husband handle the "embodiment" of being the colonial/male owner, in light of the reality that you both were neither? Moira, your experiences touched me this morning. This is the great stuff of cultural depth and tribal knowledge.

What sparked a fire in my mind when I was reading your comment was, “It made me aware as a woman just how much I represented the property of the White world, particularly the White male as my husband was treated time and again as a thief who’d stolen from them.” How did you handle being that “embodiment” of property and how did your husband handle the “embodiment” of being the colonial/male owner, in light of the reality that you both were neither?

]]> By: Moira Tessema http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2010/07/18/mixed-marriage/comment-page-1/#comment-13210 Moira Tessema Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:12:16 +0000 http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/?p=14082#comment-13210 Universal marriages and mixed marriages bring great challenges to a couple, requiring a bond like no other. My own, confirmed forty years ago in the U.S., represents the union of Ethiopian and North American Scottish culture.It made me aware as a woman just how much I represented the property of the White world, particularly the White male as my husband was treated time and again as a thief who'd stolen from them. It involved tremendous sacrifice: language, food, culture, identity. Developing genuine understanding of each other required that we live in each other's countries for several years on two separate occasions to bridge the gaps and balance the traditions of each. Ours was a universal relationship as well as a mixed marriage, developed in the mid sixties when scapegoating (gender, ethnic, and universal) was culturally accepted and involved threatening mixed race couples with a year of imprisonment for getting married in many states. I learned that in universal, mixed marriages the many many sacrifices are what makes the marriage sacred to both. One learns that if there are many low points in the marriage, there are equally many high points, the lower, the higher. And there is no greater condition for growth as individual. You can never be a conformist in such a relationship. You are required to come face to face with yourself and your society, and your spouse's as well. You'll never be again just a North American or an African, but a universal being. You are required to develop global consciousness. It i s my wish that more and more such marriages develop to bring universal understanding and peace. Universal marriages and mixed marriages bring great challenges to a couple, requiring a bond like no other. My own, confirmed forty years ago in the U.S., represents the union of Ethiopian and North American Scottish culture.It made me aware as a woman just how much I represented the property of the White world, particularly the White male as my husband was treated time and again as a thief who’d stolen from them. It involved tremendous sacrifice: language, food, culture, identity. Developing genuine understanding of each other required that we live in each other’s countries for several years on two separate occasions to bridge the gaps and balance the traditions of each. Ours was a universal relationship as well as a mixed marriage, developed in the mid sixties when scapegoating (gender, ethnic, and universal) was culturally accepted and involved threatening mixed race couples with a year of imprisonment for getting married in many states. I learned that in universal, mixed marriages the many many sacrifices are what makes the marriage sacred to both. One learns that if there are many low points in the marriage, there are equally many high points, the lower, the higher. And there is no greater condition for growth as individual. You can never be a conformist in such a relationship. You are required to come face to face with yourself and your society, and your spouse’s as well. You’ll never be again just a North American or an African, but a universal being. You are required to develop global consciousness. It i s my wish that more and more such marriages develop to bring universal understanding and peace.

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