Thoughts from Another Country - Part II

Watching people in my travels has been the greatest learning experience of my life. I came on this trip to discover the world and what it had to offer. Instead I ended up discovering myself.

I always wanted to be a parent, even from when I was a little kid. No one really knows what to do when they become parents. They discover what to do as they go. However watching life on these travels has taught me a few things. A parent's role is not to protect their children, but to teach them how to protect themselves. It's not to feed them (when they are old enough) but to teach them how to feed themselves. The greatest gift that a parent can give their children (other than love) is independence, so that if they are left orphaned or alone, they can survive and be happy and can pass on the important things they learned in their life to others who are willing to listen.

Our role as children is to discover new things and experience life so we can learn. However that doesn't stop when we grow up. Our job in life is to determine who we are and to experience that to it's fullest. The best way to discover who we are is to discover who we are not. I know what I like and what I don't like, and I keep exploring that so that I can be most true to myself.

I've also realized many truths in the world. People are so busy judging each other that they forget they ultimately come from the same place and that they are the same. If you were to take an apple and cut it up into eight equal pieces, would you not say that they are still not from the same larger whole even though they are now different? What of the peel that protects the inside and carries the vitamins? Is it really less or more important that the seeds that produce more apples or the flesh inside that nourishes a body?

The people of this world are like the different pieces of an apple. Even though they are infinitely different, they are all the same because they come from the same larger whole. They also have equal importance, because without each part, the greater whole would be incomplete.

I've also come to realize that we are all offered opportunities on a regular basis. Whether it's an opportunity to learn something or an opportunity to teach something, to make some extra money or to help someone. We each have these opportunities all the time and we alone can choose what's best for us, based on who we are and who we want to be.

I now know who I want to be and I will always strive to be that. However, I will also have as much fun as possible and experience as much as I can along the way. I wish the same for each of you.