Tuesday, May 8, 2012

What Are You Going To Bring Home?

This past weekend, I was up in the city that's about an hour north of the town where I live down here in the Sahara. In the morning, I was at Bible study with some friends who are also expats living here in Morocco. As our Bible study was starting, I sat down on a ponj, which is like a long sofa without a back. It appeared to me as if I had taken the last place in the room. A moment later, one of the young children entered the room and was looking for somewhere to sit. My friend, who was sitting next to me on the right, and I seemed to have the same idea at the same time. She called to the child as I scooted over to make some room for the youngster. A little while later, another of the kids entered and sat in the small space between me and my other friend who was on my left.

I was immediately reminded of how I've had to adjust my conceptions of space while I've been living here in Morocco, in different ways, at various times. We pile into grand taxis here, cramming them more full, with more people, than many US residents would expect to be in such a vehicle. I've considered that I should not be hostile to sharing space, for many reasons. For one thing, I made a conscious, voluntary decision to come here. Therefore, I decided to submit myself to the customs here, including those which demand that I handle space differently than I typically did in the USA. Insofar as I invited such external changes in how I conduct myself, implicitly I further chose to explore what internal transformations might occur. How am I going to allow these experiences here affect me? How am I going to change as a result of living here? Surely change is a necessary by-product of being here, including by aspects of life here which I've found uncomfortable and which I haven't liked. Otherwise I run the risk of merely complaining about what I haven't liked here, of not learning anything about myself and others. And if I go down that road, then I'm traveling down the road toward being the arrogant and closed-minded American who comes here, criticizes the people and the culture here, and leaves, not having gained anything, and consequently, likely not having given anything, of lasting value. So at this relatively late stage in my Peace Corps service, I've been thinking about what I can take back to the USA with me, not just in terms of physical, material goods, but also, and far more importantly, in terms of what can help me conduct myself better, what can help me be a better human being, and treat others better.

No comments:

Post a Comment