I’m reading a novel- Caravans by James A Michener. It is about an American that works and lives in Afghanistan. Here is an interesting quote that I identified with today. He is referring to the foreigners that he hangs out with while there.
“I am still impressed by the intellectual pleasure we had when the snow was so high in Kabul. We were in a very real sense, cut off from everything that civilized men and women had come to take for granted: books, magazines, theaters, hotels, music. All we had were our own personalities, with what understandings and memories we had acquired through the years and it was reassuring to discover what a vivid social life was possible under those circumstances. Never have I know better wit nor more exciting conversation than in the crowded little rooms of Kabul. Never have a know a group of people to be so self-sufficient, so enchanting as human beings. In those years I used to see the same two dozen people night after night, and they were rewarding beyond expectation, partly because any escape from them or their individualities was impossible.” page 51...
It is truly interesting to be a foreigner! So many different personalities thrown together… like a deserted island sort of experience. Like mentioned above, I hang out with the same five people all the time. We speak each other’s language, so we grasp on to one another and hold on in a way we never would in our home countries. While living in one’s home country, if someone is prickly or bothersome one must just let go and find someone else to suit his/her fancy. Here there is no such luck, so you hang on through the good and the bad and come out with a deeper bond of true friendship because of it.
1 comment:
What a great point you make. We here could probably use such a lesson. What powerful relationships would be forged if we knew we couldn't just move on to new friends when the old got tiresome or required too much work. Thanks Becca!
Post a Comment