This powerful talk delivered by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was truly inspiring and I could engage a lot into it.
In my case, I was born and grew up in South Korea for my whole lifetime. While growing up, I also had a single story not only for a particular country, but also for other people, system, and whatsoever. The stories that I had received from the media used to be my source of information, and I tended to accept them without particular suspicion. However, until I came to Shanghai, I did not realize that I had a single story. In other words, I was not aware of the stereotypes that I subconsciously had. Meeting a lot of people from diverse backgrounds, I acknowledged that I was limiting myself by having an assumption for a certain thing. Furthermore, I also encountered others who had a single story. For example, while I was talking with my friend, he said, “Oh you must be good at math, cause your Korean!” After hearing this, I was not offended but felt odd and could think about how other people also have a single story as I did.
A single story is “not untrue, but incomplete.” This direct quote from Adichie was the most refreshing and inspiring for me. As we cannot experience or be aware of all different aspects of each story, it is very likely for “one story become the only story.” But, we should realize that this limits ourselves, and therefore should not judge others by a biased perspective before understanding them comprehensively.