reverse culture shock

I could tell the moment I set foot back in the States that everything had changed. I would later realize that the only thing that changed was me. I am not a religious person, but I have strong beliefs. They were challenged and thus, strengthened during my trip. They will be challenged to a much greater extent here at home.

Giant white people. Giant cars. Fresh air. Trees. My dad picked us up from the airport and drove us to our house in Salem. Sylvan and I had been up for nearly 24hours but were determined to stay up until 10pm, a feeble attempt to fight jet-lag. We went for a walk in my neighborhood. We walked on clean sidewalks between barren streets and manicured lawns: the perfect picture of suburbia. But suburbia had never felt like such a nightmare. I suppose my tolerance for the 'common American' is waining. Our economy is in a recession. We're depleting our natural resources. The globe is warming. All the signs are there, but nobody's paying attention. And all the stupid white people are still consuming, using, wasting, and trimming their perfect lawns.

I think if I could send every American to a foreign country (specifically China) they might not care so much about the frivolities we fill our lives with. Perhaps they'd care more about the air and the water after visiting a country where drinking water is only found in bottles and a breath of truly fresh air is hard to come by. Perhaps after visiting such a place, they would appreciate how fortunate they are to have been born into a beautiful world and how important it is to take care of what we've been given.

The smog on our last day in Shanghai was so bad, it made my eyes burn. By the end of the day my throat was sore. It just happened to be the day after the conclusion of the paralypmic games; the same day the driving and factory bans were lifted in China. Perhaps it was an especially bad day. Maybe there is some other reason for gloomy grey skies and nearly toxic air. I hope so.

I have felt on more than one occasion that my trip to China was somehow a glimpse into our future and that I have been recruited to help save us. Though this, my final blog entry, is a bit of the 'doom and gloom' variety, have hope! I'm not pessimistic, I'm realistic. And if you read carefully, you'll see that what I speak of is not impending doom, but the beginning of something beautiful. There's still a world worth saving and a whole lot of people out there who want to save it. I'm one of those people and I'm going to make a difference. Thanks for reading.