I Went Home Again

I'm now back home in Maryland. My six week journey has taken me to Texas, China, New York, and back home again. I've learned many things. Not least of which is that mullets look bad on any group of people.

I've learned how to be out on my own in another country. How to deal with crooks (yell at them in a language that they don't understand until they're afraid of you so that they only criticize you to your friend afterward, never to your face). I learned how to be myself in public. People in China were going to stare at me anyhow, so I might as well give them something to stare at. I learned the importance of language (there's no simple answer from that lesson though).

I've learned that people have feelings and should be treated as equals even if they don't speak the same language as myself. All too often we assume that because someone cannot articulate themselves in our language, they must be emotionally inferior. But of course, since I cannot speak Chinese, many people must have felt the same way. I remember the 2 and a half year old girl who was a member of the family that we stayed with my last week; I played were her often and she would speak to me in Chinese. She must have thought that I was the stupidest adult in the world.

I've learned that your sense of self should not depend on the people around and their perception of you. There were times when we were treated as if we were the greatest maharajas who ever lived and others when we were dealt with as if we were animals. I attempted to be modest when put on a pedestal and proud when degraded. I am a grown man- nothing more, nothing less.

But I'm not too proud to take a big shit in public, hunched in the bushes, shielded from a busy street. And I have the pictures to prove it!