Continents and Such

10 February, 14

It's a pretty innocuous question. How many continents are there on Earth? Of course, there are seven:

1. North America
2. South America
3. Europe
4. Africa
5. Australia
6. Asia
7. Antarctica 

It's clear and easy, unless you are from Spain or Brazil or China, like my teacher and classmates. They were shocked that I thought there were more than five. In fact, they were even a little perturbed at my obvious North American superiority bias. The next day I sent a link from Wikipedia dealing with continents, and the answers were all over the place, from four to seven.

It is very difficult to overcome your own preconceived notions of reality. It is even more difficult to accept contrary views. This particular question is fairly harmless. Nobody is going to die, if we maintain or change our opinions about the number of continents. What would we do if the question dealt with education, or water rights, or religion, or honoring borders? 

All of the students, as well as the teacher, are amicable and have a healthy sense of humor. What would happen if our class consisted of warring parties, opposing tribes, or ancient enemies? 

My daddy always told me, "Boy, you just open your mouth to switch feet." The big takeaway for me is that I need to be careful and humble with my opinions, not exactly a part of my genetic makeup.

Another interesting lesson for me was the fact that none of us had any idea that other people held opinions different from ours. We were all surprised by the variety of answers. We never seem able to see the holes and flaws in our own belief systems, yet we can quickly identify the problems in others' beliefs. 

Evidently learning Spanish will be more comprehensive than I thought. I am learning a new language, as well as a new way to see the world around me. By the way, the correct answer is six continents.