A country’s hideouts
October 12, 2007I feel I tried to start from the very end.
I tried to explain sucha complex country as it is the United States without understanding it first. I tried to explain it even before coming here.
Last week, in my International Communication class, the teacher invited the American students to understand their country before trying to help people from other countries understand the U.S. decisions and performances among the international community.
And I realized that, both nationals and foreigners, were going throught the same process of decoding what the U.S. means. But I felt I was walking the same path in the opposite direction.
Photo by CFPereda
Smithsonian Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
I’ve tried for so long to know and understand this country before coming here; and now I don’t remember what I found out before moving here: I can’t separate my memories from what I learned in the U.S.
Why so much emphasis on Freedom? Why do politics depend so much (and so openly) on money? Why there are teenagers shooting their classmantes? Why so obsessed with making money if you don’t have time to enjoy it? Why do Americans only look to the future, never to the past? Why is space so important?
I feel frustrated because I can only let myself go, listen and learn. I have to go back to where I started, keep my mind open and never stop listening with my heart…
I want to find answers and bring them here.
They say you don’t know a place until you live there. I want to better understand this country, but I know that until I walk through all its hideouts
Dicen que no se conoce una ciudad hasta que no has vivido en ella. Quiero comprender mejor este país, pero sé que hasta que no me adueñe de sus rincones, como cuando encontré (gracias, Dyane) el Jardín de las Esculturas aquí en Washington, no habré empezado a descifrarlo.
