I keep a homemade business card in my wallet that reads "Love changes everything". For those of you from the Aloha Camps, surely you must recognize the reference to "Bob's Song (Love Changes Everything)". This year, it has become a motto, sort of. More accurately, it has become a mindset that I've adopted, a way of looking at things, people, and situations, which for me, has yielded transformative results. Instead of looking at uncomfortable and unknown situations with indifference, apathy, frustration, or fear, I try to look at every situation with love. Love for other people, love for language, love for my family, love for myself. So far, it has not steered me wrong.
Today marked the beginning of my yearlong travels, and the first day that it felt like a stretch to take "love" into every situation. Often times today I've found myself embarrassed, lost, or just incorrect, and reminding myself to be loving has helped me begin uncomfortable situations, ask for help, and most importantly, laugh at myself. On my flight I had two very long and incredibly interesting conversations with native Chileans who were extremely friendly and willing to talk about themselves and Chilean customs, religion, and politics. One man spoke of the importance of gaining world perspective in order to evaluate one's own culture. While my most daunting task will be learning to communicate and understand Spanish, it seems as though I'll also have to put forth an effort to encourage Chileans not to speak to me in English.
This morning, as my plane began its final descent into Santiago, the view from the left side of the plane was truly spectacular. The Andes Mountains stood grey against the white accents of frosted snowcaps, beneath an almost fluorescent orange band of sunrise that following closely to successions of peaks and valleys, appearing like the signs of life on an EKG machine. If there were any natural symbol to announce my arrival, I had seen it.
0 comments:
Post a Comment