Not having been there in a while, I'm not completely cognizant of everything that's happening in the West. According to my informative media, I am aware of the intense weather that has ripped through the Midwest, the resigning of Bush's aide, among others, but I WAS NOT aware that America had lost its soul.
This morning, I arrived to Bocskai-Istvan Gimnazium to pulsing house music (a nice treat that students and groggy teachers get in the early morning hours courtesy of the headmaster). A student who is not mine, but sought me out in the early months of my stay because I am American, found me outside the staff room. For months, she has been praising America, confessing, with sparkling eyes, how much she'd love to go there to start a band and tattoo business in California. It's her dream to get out of Hungary.
"Can I ask you something?" she asked.
"Of course," I say, not entirely awake.
"Is it true that Americans hate foreigners? Because my teacher told me that a Hungarian girl went to study in America and all the kids made fun of her and rang her doorbell all the time," she spat it out, her eyes not so sparkly now.
"Huh?" I need some time to process.
"My English teacher told me that I shouldn't go to America, because it doesn't have any soul."
Now I was awake. There are good and bad things about America, but when someone tells you (even indirectly) that your country doesn't have any soul...it took a little wind out...I'll have to admit.
Sure I wanted to get away from it, but mainly it was to throw myself into an entirely foreign lifestyle and moving abroad is the best way to do that.
It's not about going to America or anywhere. It's about trying something that you've started to dream about. What is soul-less for one person may be entirely full of soul for another.
It's about having the guts to throw yourself off a cliff and learning how to fly. Standing in the bustling second floor hallway at 7:50 am this morning, she sounded just like me before I was to take off for Budapest.
"Even if I don't like it or it doesn't work, I want to try it. I really do. I can come home if it is a disaster."
"Then try it," I told her.
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2 comments:
It makes you wonder, doesn't it? When Bush claims that 'anyone involved with the CIA leak in my administration wouldnt have a job,' and then we find out that HE himself authorized the leak?
Or when we hear our leaders make claims about loving every life, even those unborn, but we dont report in our media about how many people have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Have we indeed lost our souls? Hard to say, especially from our collective vantage point, but doesn't it beg the question sometimes?
Yes, you have a point. This little event happened before I was bombarded with info about the leak.
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