April 23, 2009It’s about time to go home and I don’t know if I’m necessarily ready. I love being here on the ship with all of my friends. I feel welcome and at home here. I feel like I fit in. It’s been such a wonderful experience to be with all these amazing people and travel the world with them. We have seen some really incredible things that moved us tremendously….
The “Real” World
I’m sick of people back home sending messages about the real world. That I should enjoy my trip now because when I get back home I’ll have to come back to the “real world”. NO!
I’ve been in the real world, I’ve seen the REAL world. Back home people live in bubbles and boxes, never getting out and seeing what the world is really like. Life in the U.S. is easy. You don’t have to worry about famine, constant sickness, live in fear all the time and worry about war. The U.S. is clean and full of everything we need. We have good food, clean water and shelter and transportation. Most of these places struggle just to have those things and we have so much of it that we take it for granted. It’s a luxury for us to go out to eat but for people in India or somewhere like that, they are just trying to get by with whatever they find on the streets.
People there are starving and dying because they have no food and contaminated water among many other things. People say the real world is getting a job and paying bills. That’s a luxury after what I’ve seen where people are living on the streets begging for money. Having a job is not the real world. We are lucky in the U.S. and we shouldn’t take it for granted. Back home, people don’t pay attention to the famine and struggle in the middle east, they watch it on their t.v. for a minute and turn the channel because they don’t feel like dealing with it, they ignore it and shut it out because they don’t want to feel depressed by it. Atleast, they can turn it off, atleast its not happening where you are. And you think you live in the real world?
I will no longer tolerate someone telling me about the real world as being in the U.S. back home. Back where our lives consist of big houses, expensive cars and electronics, laptops, ipods, cell phones, schedules, designer purses and items, a disgusting number of fancy clothes that we don’t need, dinners out, money wasted on buying drinks on the weekend or trivial toys and things we don’t need. Everything is based on money back home. We have everything we need there for us. Even the countries that I’ve been to, I found out their domestic products they send the U.S. are their best ones, they don’t even keep the better quality items they give it to us because we will spend the money. Its disgusting. Life in the U.S. is a luxury. That is not the real world, that is not the hard life. We don’t live in constant fear, we don’t watch our whole families get killed in front of us because of fighting and war. We don’t have to beg for our food and drink water contaminated by feces, germs, chemicals and other things.
We don’t have to worry about not having water at all. We don’t have to worry about anything that the rest of the world does, yet we think our lives are rough when certain things don’t work out. We complain about cancelled appointments, a sports team losing, not having everything they want, as much money as they want, when food at a restaurant comes to them incorrectly, when a movie they want to go see is sold out and so many other things. And also, its not so much that we complain as much as it is that we take so much for granted, such as food, water, transportation, shelter. Luxuries that we have such as electronics, t.v, internet at our fingertips, cell phones, music, movies, dinners out, desserts, having a job, making money, being able to have all these things, not having to worry about anything that isn’t trivial.
Coming back home is bittersweet, I’m so excited to be back home but sad to leave here also. But this trip has opened up my eyes to so many things. I wanted to learn more about the world, get out of my box of living in the U.S. and burst my bubble of what made me comfortable and what didn’t. I’ve seen and experienced things out here that I could have never imagined. All good and bad. All comfortable and uncomfortable. I pushed myself to go places and do things I normally wouldn’t because I was scared or because it was easier to shut it out like we do back home. Well I have done that. I was scared at times and very uncomfortable but I’ve broken out of my box, bubble and shell. I’ve pushed myself to the limits and yet and so much more room to let go. I’ve been in the war zones, the famine, I’ve been tugged at constantly by the smallest, filthiest, skinniest children in the world begging for a small coin or a crumb of food because they haven’t eaten all week.
I’ve walked through and stayed in the worst conditions I’ve ever been in or even seen in the third world countries. I’ve smelt the most beautiful things and the worst, combination of moldy food, contaminated water, sickness, urine, rot, animals, filth and death. I won’t be able to ignore articles in the paper and magazines, or to turn off the t.v. when something comes on the news about the places I’ve been to or those like it. It is no longer far away, but with me now forever. I won’t be able to stand next to people who waste their food and joke about the “starving kids in Africa or India” because I’ve seen it. I will never be able to go back to the world I lived in, because I have seen and been in the real world for these past four months. And that’s the REAL world!
I am in absolute horror that this post was written. I can not believe the amount of preaching done in this post, which is saying a lot considering your other posts were full on soap box worthy comments.
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is grow up.
To begin with, to constantly refer and make accusations that people in 3rd world countries are miserable is ridiculous. You have to remember that other people's standard of happiness are differnt than Americans. I'm not saying it's right, but for you to assert that these people are not happy is insulting to them. Different people have different standards of living, I bet they don't see themselves as being distute and 'impoverished' as you claim they are.
Continuing on that, there are pleanty of people in the US living in 3rd world conditions. Have you ever spent time in the southeast? Because it would surprise you. Open your eyes to people at home. Also in case you're wondering, hunger in the US is currently on the rise, in fact the US hunger epedemic has risen faster than any other country in the past few years. Over 32 million Americans are currently living in what is considered 'food insecure' lifestyle. While there are pleanty of wasteful Americans out there, it is ridculous for you to write about how they all live in some bubble that you were clearly to blind to recognize yourself.
Finally, until you spend some actual time in a country and go out on your own, not sponsered excursions, you do not have the right to act as though you are so superiour to everyone else. Spending a few days in a country is not allowing you to have a full understanding of that place. You aren't being exposed to much, especially since you are spending time in ports of call and other highly visited areas. The locals are used to seeing tourists and most likely scammed you more than once. I don't care how 'real' you claim your time was, you were a tourist and only got that point of view, never once did you become a local.
Stop preaching to people, if you really are as enlightened as you claim to be, you won't need to say anything, people will know and recognize it.
Finally it's unfair to judge others who are being 'materialistic' as you put it. When someone is working 40+ hours a week, then they have earned the right to spend their money how ever they like without judgement. Maybe when you have a full-time job you'll understand that. Also, don't say that the single mom who is working 9-5 to pay the bills isn't living in the real world. She just doesn't have a daddy who can send her on cush cruises around the world.
“Anonymous,”
ReplyDeleteI find your response pretty unbelievable. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard anyone twist somebody’s words and completely miss the point quite like you just did. I’m absolutely appalled that you would read a piece of writing by someone who is clearly going through a life-changing experience, struggling to understand the world, seeing new and disturbing things for the first time and responding with an open mind, angry at the injustices and inequalities that she has seen in the world, and that you would respond with such a judgmental, close-minded, and simply inaccurate post.
You say that standards of happiness are different in other parts of the world than in America, and that it is ridiculous for Emily to assert that many of the people she encountered are not happy. You also say that you “bet they don’t see themselves as being distute and ‘impoverished’” (I believe you meant ‘destitute’). At no point did Emily ever claim that others should measure their own happiness based on American standards. She’s talking about the millions upon millions of people literally dying of hunger, disease, and war. She’s not talking about children in Cambodia playing soccer with a tin can instead of a ball. She’s talking about the children whose bodies are being slowly ravaged by malaria and tuberculosis because they are too poor to afford a $2 mosquito net or a 20 cent inoculation. You claim there are people in the US living in 3rd world conditions. You mention the southeast. The fact is, you are simply wrong about this. These are not 3rd world conditions. I would never deny that millions people in the US lead extremely difficult lives, and I don’t think Emily would ever say that either. Yes, there are people in the US who go hungry every day. You say the number is 32 million; I’ve actually heard 35 million. Yes, there are people in this country suffering. But 3rd world conditions? In the US, the poor live in poverty. In India, in Africa, the poor live in extreme poverty. Our poverty line is drawn at a little over $10,000. Extreme poverty is defined by the United Nations as living on under $1 a day. Do you understand the difference? When we talk about hunger in the US, we are talking about kids going to bed hungry. This is a terrible thing that should not ever have to happen, but there is a vast difference between this and between the 15 million children abroad who die every year because they do not have enough food to stay alive. Anyway, not once did Emily ever say that there were no problems in the US – you say that she writes about “how they all live in some bubble.” You write “don't say that the single mom who is working 9-5 to pay the bills isn't living in the real world.” In case you didn’t notice, the lifestyle that Emily was speaking against is one characterized by, as she put it: “big houses, expensive cars and electronics, laptops, ipods, cell phones, schedules, designer purses and items, a disgusting number of fancy clothes that we don’t need, dinners out, money wasted on buying drinks on the weekend or trivial toys and things we don’t need.” This description summarizes mainstream American consumer culture pretty accurately. The hardships faced by your single mom example would be similar, though on an entirely different scale, to the hardships that Emily mentioned she witnessed abroad. She is speaking out against exactly the same form of injustice, yet somehow you shortsightedly misinterpret her words and criticize her experience?
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Finally, what do you think you know about Emily? You know nothing about her. You say, “Maybe when you have a full-time job you’ll understand that.” Have you asked Emily anything about her personal situation and background? You might consider doing that before launching all sorts of unfounded and irresponsible criticisms at her. You know, you seem a bit hypocritical yourself. You state that “When someone is working 40+ hours a week, then they have earned the right to spend their money how ever they like without judgement.” That’s one perspective that you seem to state as a fact. Yet you also complain about poverty in the southeast. But I guess that handful of CEOs have the RIGHT to receive annual bonuses that total billions of dollars, never mind the fact that the money could be used to greatly reduce or eradicate poverty for millions of people.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry that you chose to post such a close-minded comment on this blog. This world needs more people like Emily who are willing to bravely face uncomfortable truths, question their own beliefs, and make a difference in this world.
Dave