I am better and completely believe in the healing powers of kimchi. Maybe what I mean is that I now know how great cabbage and spice are…even though Russia should have already taught me about cabbage.
Sometimes I wonder why good or bad things happen to certain people. How much of what happens to us is what we choose and how much is the ‘luck of the draw’? Is there just fate or is there just free will? I don’t think there is just one, but what’s the balance, how does that work? It’s insane to me how much of life we can’t really explain. Things happen because they happen. Sometimes it’s because we choose but sometimes it has nothing to do with what we choose. I had a friend who experienced a really rough night last night and she reminded me of this train of thought when she said, “Ashley, I know it sounds dumb but it’s when nights like last night happen that I think, what did I do for that to happen to me? I’m not a bad person, I never mean for anyone to feel hurt by my actions, so what did I do?” And the bittersweet answer to that is maybe she did nothing. Maybe it just happened that way and had nothing to do with her. It’s bitter because that’s just life and it’s sweet because she couldn’t have prevented it anyways and there’s nothing to regret. But I’ve been where she was. I have thought, ‘what did I do to deserve this situation?’. Who hasn’t? I wonder if there will ever be a point in my life when I think I have everything I want.
The other interesting half to this topic is maybe situations are not bad themselves but really our perception is what creates the negative reaction. Maybe. Living overseas has made me realize how different perceptions can really be. I always knew there were different sides to a story but I don’t know that I realized how different those sides could really be. How you are brought up to see something is how you will see it. If I hand a customer change with my left hand in America no one even thinks twice, but here they wouldn’t hand you something with their left hand only. And they are brought up to view someone giving you something with their bare left hand as negative. It’s interesting to realize point of view is SO diverse.
Life can be a little sweet but life can be a little shitty. --RHCP
1 comment:
So much really is a difference of perspective, sometimes even within ourselves. I was in Cairo two years ago and find my experiences then (a very mixed one as I was coming from Russia and was quite tired) strongly influencing my perceptions now.
I wish I could read your posts all the time! I'll catch up again when I go back to the States :-).
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