One occasion, after a surf session, while changing from my wet suit, I encountered a concerned citizen.
They quickly informed me that what I was doing was dangerous. And that I should not have been in the water.
Completely safe, satisfied - glowing in fact - from the fun I just had in playful, small-ish waves, I laughed it off.
These non surfers had an unconscious bias and lack of experience about the ocean.
When my daughter was a baby, she refused to wear things to cover her hands - even in the coldest of weather. While walking around the streets of Leslieville, I regularly encountered scorn and derision from Grandmother aged women who insisted I was abusing my daughter.
This?
This I didn’t laugh off so easily.
These critics didn’t see the lead up to the glovelessness.
These critics had a limited field of experience.
They saw a young man with a baby and decided he didn’t know what he didn’t know what he was doing.
Their unconscious bias hurt.
This weekend, I encountered another one of these cr…
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