Leaves and Neighbors (and Beliefs, Faith etc.)
Yesterday I cleaned up the grass in front (or in the back) of my hostel. I picked up some trash and a lot of dead leaves. I threw the trash in a dumpster and the leaves onto the dirt where some cars park. I thought the cars would drive over the leaves and grind them down. Today I looked out and saw that someone had put the leaves back onto the grass.
I suppose now that they don't want to step in them when they get out of the car. I also learned yesterday that the black car belongs to one of my neighbors. I am not sure why they put the leaves on the grass. Didn't they realize that I want the grass clean? Did they do it intentionally as a sign of defiance or displeasure or even a small sign of aggression? I like my neighbors, even though we can't communicate much. I want them to like me and help me or at least not hurt me. I would like them to be friendly and helpful to the hostel travellers when I am not home or when a backpacker is lost and can't find my place.
If I were to put the leaves back, how might they feel?
Knowing what little I do about them, I believe that they would help me find a mutually agreeable solution to the leaves problem. This is a belief. I am not sure I would say I have "faith" that they would help me. Faith and belief or beliefs are a little different. But they are also a lot the same. This is one thing tricky about the English language. I saw Obama talking about different "faiths". He meant different religions and different beliefs. He said "Some people have no faith at all." I think he meant some people have no religion at all. Or they have no belief in any gods.. I don't think he meant they have no beliefs.
In fact, I will say I don't believe he meant they don't have any beliefs. But I wouldn't say I have faith that he didn't mean they don't have any beliefs.
Actually I really don't know what Obama meant when he said "Some people have no faith at all." And I don't know how he feels about someone who doesn't believe in any gods or in the "one god" concept which seems to be fairly popular these days. I personally prefer the "no god" concept, but it wouldn't get me elected president in the USA.
But back to leaves and neighbors. And a common language. Yesterday I mentioned the biblical story of the Tower of Babble, in which God gets angry and makes people speak different languages so they can no longer communicate and cooperate to build the tower. I don't think this is a good example of how to make the world a better place. In the case of my neighbors and I, it would be lot easier to work out a mutually agreeable solution to the leaves problem if we could speak the same language. They could tell me why they don't want the leaves where they park and I could tell them why I don't want them on the grass. But as it is now, how could I communicate that I want to respect their feelings about the leaves, but I also want them to respect mine? And how can I say that I'd like to find a mutually acceptable solution? How can I say all this if we don't speak a common language?
I am not sure what I will do with the leaves today. Or maybe I won't do anything with them. Maybe I will wait till I find someone who can translate for me. Or maybe I will put them in another place. A bit more out of the way so they don't have to step on them.
I don't think the neighbors really want to prove that they are more powerful than me. And I don't want to start a power struggle, or the next Balkan war. If I felt defiant myself, I could put the leaves back. But I would guess that they would put them back on the grass again. So where would this get us and what feelings would be created?
I wish I had time to educate Obama about feelings. Or actually I wish he had time or would make the time. I wish he valued my knowledge and experience enough to make time to listen and learn from me. One difference, and it is a big one, between how I feel about him and how I feel about Bush is that I never had any hope at all that Bush would listen to me or want to learn from me. With Obama I feel optimistic that he would spend some time truly listening and discussing something or some things with me.
So far I haven't been invited by anyone at the US Embassy here to have a coffee with them, so I guess they won't be passing my name along to Obama. Or maybe I haven't met the right people there yet. I emailed one person but she didn't write back. I don't want to say too much because I have found that people who work for governments typically are pretty sensitive to criticism and I don't want to make any enemies in the US Embassy! I already have a little conflict with them over the pictures I took of the American Corner library. I heard from someone who works in the library that someone in the embassy would prefer I didn't post the pictures on the Internet, so I took most of them off the page and only left the pictures from the outside of the building. I had some nice pictures from the inside, which I took with the permission of the person working there, but for the time being I have taken those down. I feel sad about this and discouraged but I feel a little optimistic that if I talk to the right people someone will say, "It's okay, you can post the pictures." Or they might look at the pics with me and say "These are ok, but these aren't for such and such reason." If someone gives me a good reason not to post certain pictures, I will feel better about not posting them. I have some pictures of the magazines in English which are offered to the public there, for example. I can't think of any reason why anyone at the Embassy wouldn't want me to post those pictures.
One of my beliefs about a democratic society is that the people must feel satisfied with their elected leaders. If not, they can be expected to vote them out of office. One part of feeling satisfied is receiving satisfying answers to questions. If people start to ask "Why this?" or "Why not that?", and they don't receive satisfying answers, there will obviously be some discontent and frustration. In dictatorships questions are not welcomed. In dictatorships and communist countries people learn that it is better not to question or challenge authority. In other words, they learn to be afraid of authority. I am a little afraid myself to question too many things too vocally here. I am even a little afraid to post this editorial. People often tell me "don't worry," but that doesn't help me a lot. I would rather they take time to listen to me and understand why I am worried.
Again we come back to communication and understanding. If we can't speak a common language, and if we don't listen to each other even if we do speak a common language, it makes solving problems, cooperating and solving problems in mutually acceptable ways a lot harder.
This is one reason I feel encouraged to see that more people around the world are speaking a common language. This common language is obviously English. That is one reason I am such a strong advocate of teaching English...and of the Internet. I have said before that this is the first time in history when we have the ability to break cultural barriers by using the combination of English and the Internet. It is my belief, and I guess my faith, that as more young people communicate directly with each other around the world, the more chance there is for solving problems peacefully through listening, discussion and understanding. In my experience the vast, vast majority of the people, especially the young people, want peace and friendships. I have found that wherever I go in the world, kids are pretty much just kids and teenagers are pretty much just teenagers. They are much more similar than they are different. I want to work to build upon their similarities and minimize their differences. I believe that Barack Obama would agree with me on that goal. This is one reason he inspires me. He inspires me to keep working on those things my heart tells me to pursue. Though we disagree about what he calls faith, I still do have "faith" that he would listen to me. And I have faith in the young people around the world. Obama said the American people have been misinformed. I agree. I would also say millions of others around the world, not just the Americans, have been misinformed or misled.
Living here in Montengro, with its one party politics, reminds me how easily it is to convince the majority of people of something, nearly anything in fact. My friend Matea said last night that he thinks most Montenegrins are like sheep. Luic from Quebec said, "It is not just the people here. It is the same around the world." Can we depend on the democratic process then? This is an interesting question. In Europe it seems to be working pretty well. I came to live in Europe because it offers the best example of how countries can live together peacefully. But I still have some suggestions for how it can be improved. I will save those for later, though.
Thanks for reading.
Your correspondent in Montenegro.
Steve