Turned Around to See Itself

Professor Kotack paces the narrow auditorium stage. I am amazed he has managed not to fall off the whole semester. On this final day of fall term, the anthropologist is telling us a story from his time with an African village family in the early 80’s.
“My last night on this excursion, we sit at the dinner table. There is much laughter, but also tears and heartfelt tributes. I will not see them again for two more years.”
The mother serves him some rice with chicken. And then, on top of the steaming mound of rice, she places a boiled chicken penis.
The class takes that in. There are a few guffaws, but we quiet ourselves.
“You see,” says the professor, “when you have the opportunity to really connect with people whose lives, on the surface, are much different than yours…you come to appreciate that differences mean little in the face of what is common. This family had the utmost gratitude and love for me. Their honoring me with the rooster’s dong”, more laughter, “was the highest compliment they could give – from the standpoint of their own culture.”
Something in my head twists around to see itself. I think I have finally understood what he has been trying to show us in the past three months.
Sure, every culture has vast differences in belief and custom. But, truly, there are no differences that matter. We are all bound by the same code of honor – a friend is someone you esteem as much as, if not more than, yourself. I think of the “headman” (in a sense, the “mayor”) that did not honor this code. He tried to keep his wealth to himself. He was shunned and mocked by the entire village.
Professor Kotack has left us enough to think about, for the rest of our lives, perhaps. At least he has left his gift with me.