So i've been gone for awhile now. Much has changed since the last I expressed my mind through this blog. During the month of January I was away from the US. I had traveled to my home country of Bangladesh. The last time I had gone was when I was very young, not even old enough to walk. So my memory of the place was close to none. The only things I had to go on were stories my friends who had visited there within the past few years had told me. To be honest, based on the stories I was not very excited to be going. Being the poor country it is, there was not much to look forward to. I can't describe all the events that took place there but I can say it was a life changing experience. There was a lot of bad, a lot of good, a lot of fear, a lot of love. It really takes someone to be taken out of their element to have their eyes opened up.
Lets put it this way. We all like to think highly of ourselves. No one goes around speaking about their flaws. We like to brag, blame others, and think we are always right. There are genuinely good people out there but the fact of the matter is nobody is perfect. This isn't a cliche. There are always things you can do to improve yourself. I was one of those people who thought somewhat highly of myself as well, not in the cocky sense at all but I generally believed I was a good person. The thing is that this belief I had in myself was a reflection in comparison to people around me. People around you is based on your environment. This is something one does not realize until removed from this environment. Compared to all the people I knew I felt as though I was a good person in regards to morals, friendship and trustworthiness. All good traits but there is much more to life. I did not feel there was anything really wrong with me, this was until the visit to my country.
Bangladesh is very much like a third world country. It is very poor, the people who live there barely have the necessary things to live their life. Quickly I learned how we take SOOO much for granted. Running water, electricity, food, air quality, internet, television, things we are all accustomed are considered luxuries. But the things I learned are way bigger than this basic inconveniences.
The one thing I wanted to focus on in this specific post is that the life we all lead here are ones that people dream about. People out there live in such harsh and depressing conditions. I was there for a month and had such a hard time but always had the ability to look at the bright side, the bright side being that it would be over soon, that I'd be able to return home soon. But then it hit me, what about the people who live here. This IS their life forever. It is so hard to escape the life they live. It isn't as easy as buying a plane ticket as I ignorantly once thought. To be able to get money for the plane ticket is a battle almost not worth fighting for. Establishing a visa, working situation and most importantly a place to live in another country are tasks that are so imposing for people making close to nothing.
So you'd think people there are depressed and hating life? Quite the contrary. This is what opened my eyes the most. People there didn't dwell on what they didn't have or couldn't get. They embraced the life that was given to them and made the best out of it. The one example that I can't get out of my head is about a servant. In countries like this it is very common to have servants, usually young girls around the ages of 8-12 who work for a family doing chores like cleaning and other labor tasks. This is the lowest of work one can have there. They sleep on the floors, have to do whatever the family says, they have no time for themselves, always on the job. Just the idea of it upset me but the fact of the matter is, this is what happens in some cultures and the fact also is, this is the only means by which some can make money. Now one would definitely think a person working under conditions like this would hate living life. I sure thought they would. Wrong. These people find ways to smile and love the life they live. One can say its because they have not been exposed to living any other way but even so, that is no way for a person to live.
The thing that gets to me about the servant situation is if they can smile, we are criminals. I say this because our lives are that of kings compared to how people in poor countries live. The problems we think are problems are not problems at all. A problem is when you have to worry about if you're going to be able to eat, or finding a place to sleep. Our problems on the other hand are about long loading times, waiting in lines, stupid he said she said fights with friends and so on. Things that used to bother me are no more. Thinking back on things that I thought were problems sicken me now. We all have become spoiled. Being spoon fed everything really takes away from your understanding of the world. The reason we have such terrible relations with people I think can be attributed to this. Another lesson I had taken away from being there is that when you have nothing, you have a lot. The people I met in Bangladesh including family members have such heart. Heart like none I have ever seen. The genuine love and respect they show is something that would be very rare to find here in the US. It is something I will truly miss.
Honestly, we have so much. Others have so little. We have to embrace the things we have been given. We are all truly blessed to live the life we are living. There were a lot of bad things that happened to me during my stay there that I will maybe talk about in future posts but it really did not come close to the amount of good that came out of it. I went into that country thinking there was nothing wrong with me. I came out wanting to change almost all aspects of my life. One thing that also must be said is that family is truly one of the most important things in the world.
Family here in America is so easy to not take serious. Understand that you were brought into this world by your parents. Before you neglect them and yell at them for no good reason, remember that they have feelings too. Imagine yourself in the future old and as a parent, would you be happy alone? All you would have to live for is your children, your careers and life experiences would be coming to an end. All you have to keep you happy and going is your children. Put yourselves in their shoes, its not like your parents go out and see their friends like you do every day. They probably go to work and then come home and do nothing. Thats not a very happy life to live out now is it? Be there for your parents while you can before its too late.
Be thankful for all you have, there are people out there who can only dream to have a fraction of what we have. Let's not waste our opportunities, it snot fair to those who would work so much harder in our place. Prove that we can do something with what has been given to us.
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