Are chance happenings just mere coincidence? Does everything happen for a reason? Are we fated to be in certain places at certain times? I have no idea. We could debate this for years. People do and have. What I do know, though, is that although you cannot always control what happens in life, you can control the way you respond and the way you view that occurrence. That`s freedom and that`s power.
I was strolling through the streets of Santiago today and I ran into someone I met at a bar during Super Bowl the night before. Now Santiago is no Sao Paulo, but it is a damn big city. And we found each other on the completely other side of town. Coincidence? Fate? Whatever.
At first I thought that this was a way to show me that cities, although large and impersonal, can actually be rather intimate communities once you start developing a network of people. That`s how I felt about Boston. But I realize now that this meeting--chance or not--was meant to teach me a much more important lesson, one that can help reveal another layer to the mystery of reality. What is real? Dialogue is real.
So I After running into him for the second time, I accepted the invitation to join him and his friends for a drink outside. I mean, why not? We had a fascinating conversation the night before about traveling and personal goals (and football of course), and I had no schedule to which I had to conform. This whole situation was almost surreal, in the same way that dining with people from around the world in the small town of Albardon, Argentina was surreal. Except this felt so spontaneous and so natural, as if everyone in an international city was having a similar experience at that very moment. We were five.
A young german woman living the dream--a talented architect who has worked in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. She is directly benefiting from the neoliberal, international oil ¨trade¨ that has been destroying our world and stealing nation´s sovereigny for decades.
A young French student who has just begun his six month stay in Santiago. He will be studying forestry and agriculture in the local university, and came into the group in the attempt to solicite housing from the local Chileans. He prefers not to talk politics because he says there are no answers, yet he still speaks his mind with confidence and conviction about international events and the current French situation.
A Chilean in his mid thirties who is feeling hopeless and frustrated. For the past fifteen years, he has worked on social programs in the city`s poor neighborhoods and has been discussing how to save his city from the impacts of social stratification. He has seen the creation of a middle class, but still believes that most Chileans lack the hope, the drive, and the idea that they can change their socioeconomic situation. He is a victim of corporate control--exhausted from the fight and ready to sit back, have fun, and consume.
A young Chilean in his early thirties who moved from the South years ago with the dreams of attending university and becoming an architect. His dreams are still big, and he hopes to one day move to Europe permanently to work in his field. In all likelihood, he will succeed. He has already spent an extensive amount of time abroad. He has taught himself three languages. He surrounds himself with foreigners and knows how to create an international network. And he has a firery passion that will get him places. He too has spent the last fifteen years working on social programs in the inner cities, but his desire to live amongst the international elite is bound to take him from these current projects.
And a young American who is traveling in Argentina and Chile while working on organic farms. She is searching for something real to add to her life, and currently finds herself providing the all-too-realistic-semi-apocolyptic-gloom-and-doom card in the conversation. You know...America has destroyed the world and if we all don`t change now everything will collapse. Wompwompwomp. Welcome to my head.
We were five. So different. Each with his own role to play in the system. And we talked for hours. Sometimes the discussion was heated, other times the mood was more inquisitive. The topics ranged as we fluidly moved from one item to the next, navigating the language barriers and speaking a mix of German, French, Spanish, and English. Media censorship by corporate sponsors. South American farmers´ unwillingness to produce organically. Exportation of farm goods. France´s president. America´s dream of social mobility. Dogs in Chile. Gangs in inner cities. The creativity of green architecture. The importance of lending a hand. Immigration. At the end of the conversation, we did not come to any solutions. We did not solve world peace or eliminate world hunger. But we shared ideas. We learned to listen to the opinions of others and we learned to express our own thoughts. One conversation may no uncover answers. But many conversations over time can and will. That is real.
So I ask you, then, are you having these conversations? How do you feel about the fact that ¨uneducated¨ people in the favelas of Brazil, in the slums of South Africa, on the streets of Santiago know more about international news and American events than you do? Do you spend your lunch breaks reading celebrity gossip, or do you search out various news sites piecing together events? Are you too ¨PC¨ to bring up religion and politics with friends and strangers in the fear of offening someone? What do you know about South American history, the role America has played in international politics, or the current state of the world? Do you care? You should. So read books. Find news sites. Think critically. Have these conversations with friends and families. Shut off the TV (football season is over). Buy a newspaper or two to go with your morning coffee. Learn what other people think, and don`t limit yourself to talking with people who are just like you. Stop being outsmarted by the rest of the world, and step it up. You`ll hear things you don`t want to hear and it won`t be easy. But dialogue will make you feel connected to the world, connected to others, and connected to yourself--and there is nothing more real than that.
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