Saturday, April 30, 2005
Shock This!
I just had one of those experiences. It’s hard to believe that I’m still experiencing culture shock. I went to the mall today. It wasn’t the first time that I went to one since I got back to the US. For some reason this time it got to me. As I walked through the mall looking at the stores, not going into most of them, I found myself appalled by the whole thing. It was the same trendy store, one after the other. Gap, Limited, Abercrombie, then the trendy kids clothes stores with a diamond store and a coffee shop thrown in for good measure. I just marveled at the greed and the consumerism that I saw and remember myself taking part in. Wishing that I made more money so that I can buy some really powerful computer for games. Or get a better apartment without roommates to piss me off. I find myself forgetting the lessons that I was supposed to have learned. I miss India, even the armpit region. I miss the simpler life. I miss the roommate that I had there and the friends that I made. I want to go back. I want to go to a new place for new experiences. I’m excited about the future, and going for a new adventure. I don’t want to wait. I want to go now. All in good time I suppose. All in God’s time.
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3 comments:
It is an interesting struggle living in Western society again. Sometimes everything seems all to superficial. I remember walking home through surbia one night thinking about how dead the neighbourhood seemed. There was always something happening outside in India.
Here you just watch people going around in their own personal bubbles/cars between work and home and shopping. We have so much wrong here in the West. We think that we have so much but look at all the suffering from mental illness, lonelyness anixety and stress. Are we really that much better?
There is a struggle in the West too.
That said I think my calling is to the developing world.
I am thinking yours might be too.
Pete if there is one message I keep getting it's patience. It's not a fun message to get.
I'm kinnda with you there buddy.
Having said that, I almost found it more disturbing being in Delhi and Mumbai watching all the young Indian rich kids trying so hard to be like us in the West. It was tough because at least some of us here in know that the road of materialism and consumerism doesn't lead anywhere very nice, and it was sad watching them try and run so fast to catch us up on the very same dead end road to nowhere.
Patience is very hard. You don't know how jealous I was when you went over last year, Pete. It was hard not to rush into something (and something I fought against), but now I'm glad that I didn't...the way this job happened was just such a miracle. It's hard to wait for God's timing, though.
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