HOLDING BACK

I wrote last week about holding back on key information so that I wouldn't become this incredible bore. That produced responses from viewers and family members alike. Don't do it! That was the resounding cry. My sister Janet weighed in. Here is her email.

Hi How am I going to know what is going on with you and yours if you stop blogging about what's going on? By the way you could never be boring to us. Love you!
Janet

She may not love me after I post this picture. That's a picture of my sister on the left. She in the center of this picture dancing. Yes she is blessed with the same absence of rhythm that I have. By the way as long as I am posting pictures, this is a picture of my brother in law Fred and right behind him is Janet's son, and my nephew Jeff. Jeff is planning a trip out here next month. His plan is to come to Washington to see the Angels take on the Nats. He also plans to drive up to Philadelphia to see the Angels play the Phillies. I guess if he isn't the Angels biggest fan, he has to be one of the biggest. His brother John is coming in July to go to Baltimore to see the Angels play the Orioles. Angels fever runs in the family.

Speaking of journeys my daughters is coming to a close. Courtney is on her way back home. My wife Kate is sky high, because her family will be back intact. I know I have a spot in her heart, but the rest is occupied by my daughter, my son and of course little ole Chester. They are all pictured to the right.

We plan to fly down to Miami this weekend to greet her as her ship comes back into port. She has spent this semester at sea...learning about the world. The lessons have sunk in. She shared her final paper with us last week. I've edited it, but it's still a bit of a read. But it's full of wisdom you might not expect to find in a 21 year old woman.

"Every night before arriving in each port, Semester at Sea students poured into the union and satellite rooms to attend the mandatory logistical pre-port. Before Brazil we were warned that walking in the streets was "like swimming with sharks." Before South Africa we were told to diligently watch our purses and pocketbooks. Before India we were told to be sure not to eat their food. Each of these meetings made sure to drill into the mind of every student that the places and people of the world are dangerous, dangerous, dangerous. The world is certainly not a land of simply milk and honey, but these speeches went beyond the necessary recommendation of caution. In fact, the world was constructed in a very Western way, by creating persuasive categories of "us" and "the other." The most powerful book I’ve read in this class, even in this whole semester, is the ancient Hindu philosophy text, The Upanishads. The main message of the text is the exact antithesis of the categories constructed in our logistical pre-ports. The Upanishads poetically argues that we must rise above our prideful individuality, which is glorified in the idea of "us" and search for unity and oneness among a common humanity. With this idea of oneness and connectedness a person can overcome the selfish idea of desire and find peace.
This amazing opportunity to travel the world with Semester at Sea has truly opened my eyes to a lot of things I didn’t understand before, but it hasn’t quite been what I expected. Before embarking on this sea adventure my anthropological optimism filled me with hopes of learning all about the differences and similarities between the cultures of the world. I feel like I haven’t been able to spend enough time in one place to learn anything too concrete about the way other people live, but I have certainly learned quite a bit about how the people on this ship interact with the world. I had hoped to find a ship full of people with similar excitement for learning about the way humanity operates around the world, but instead I encountered a group of people with a dynamic I have never felt before. Wealth, pride and beauty seem to be the most important thing on this ship. Glorified individuals basking in the sun in bathing suits that cost more money than I’ve ever had in my wallet at one time are the norm. As we traveled from port to port the juxtaposition of the ship board attitude and the situations of the people in each place has become more and more intriguing. In each place, with the exception of perhaps Malaysia and Japan, I have encountered people with next to nothing, or simply nothing at all. I’ve lived in many places in the United States, but with this trip alone I have seen more poverty than I have ever come across before. The day to day struggle that many people around the world live with, specifically in Brazil and India, was impossible to ignore. I know that my shipmates who have so much witnessed many people who have very little.
So it would seem that attitudes would change with encounter after encounter with people who can’t even comprehend the magnitude of wealth on this ship. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that attitudes have changed for many people.

When I think about the breakdown of the types of people described in The Upanishads, it seems pretty clear that a large number of my shipmates fall into the category reserved for the glorification of the ego. I see the fulfillment of desires all around me. Out in port, however, I encountered many of the other type of person. These people were not concerned with fulfilling extravagant desires. In many cases this was a direct result of the fact that they did not have the capacity to pursue those types of desires, but regardless I could sense a clear difference in the way they saw the world. The Brazilians had a extra umph to their grin that most of my shipmates are missing. The South Africans living in the townships had a ring in their voice I can’t seem to overhear in the dining hall. The Indians I met on the street had a twinkle in their eye that I haven’t found underneath the overly large sunglasses on the seventh deck. I believe that these are results from a deeper understanding of the world. These people have found a happiness that isn’t enslaved to money. They have found peace that isn’t related to a multitude of material possessions. They view the world without a constant eye for individual glorification."

I knew when I said goodbye to her months ago that she would come back a changed person. I was right. Sh has changed and she is more enlightened. She's learned a lot from her textbooks. But when the world becomes your textbook, you can learn so much more. She has!