Life Lessons From Amazon
May 4, 2009 8:59 pm Mental Health, Personal
Blue Footed Booby
When ever I go on a trip to a far off place I like to think about what I have learned. To me the important things to keep on learning are not so much facts ( I did learn a lot of these!) but what I call life lessons.
Sometimes these lessons are not so obvious. I need to put my mind to thinking about them. One of the lessons I seem to relearn with every new experience is that of patience, tolerance and acceptance of differences. There are so many things about other’s behaviors that we don’t understand and often disapprove of. However, it seems to me that when you understand more of the circumstances and situations of others (walk in their shoes) the more their actions, if not approved of, are at least are more clearly understood.
Poverty, the need to feed oneself and one’s family, and anger at injustice, often leads to desperate actions. I saw this in Africa and again in Ecuador. No matter what you do or say most indigenous peoples think US citizens are rich. And by their standards we are! Some times this belief leads to your feeling like you are being taken advantage of or made a fool of. ( I had a group of teen approach me with hands out asking for $5.00 tip, they seemed suprised when I shooed them away in no uncertain terms. I also had an elderly women tried to cheat me out of $20.00, I confronted her and she sheepishly moved quickly away) After I did this I found I was not so angry at these people but was able to understand somewhat their feelings .
I did not let these incidents effect me for more then a minute or two. I reminded myself for every one of these experiences there were ten instances where I was treated with respect and genuine caring. I am getting so much better at not letting negative experiences outweigh the good things in life and ruin my mood! I think this is also a lesson of aging that is well worth it.
I Have some pictures of my trip that you can view at http://amazongalapagos.shutterfly.com/
