No One Can Understand

Many things I have been fortunate to do in life have the belief that they are so special, so unique, that no one can relate to them.  I have many times heard the schpeel “Look around this room.  These people sitting to your left and right will be some of your closest friends for the rest of your life.  No one else in the world will understand the experiences you have had, the things you have seen, heard, and done.”

            On the one hand, this is true.  An example from my months in training comes to mind.  A group of us were in the rural community of Zaña to give practice charlas and whatnot.  While sitting on the street waiting for a bus, I noticed a man casually walking down the empty street with a cow on a rope leash.  A nonchalantly commented, “Look, there is a man walking his cow.”  My friend Scotney turned around and burst out in laughter, saying “Despite that very accurate description, that is not what I expected to see.”  It was exactly that – a man walking his cow down the street with a rope leash. The words say exactly what is happening but it was not a common sight and therefore did not invoke a known image or idea.  We might not be as surprised now after almost a year in Peru where such an occurrence happens quite regularly.   Another example is from Matt’s visit to my community of Ucupe.  After experiencing my Catholic intervention, Matt made the comment that had he not been there, he never could have accurately pictured nor completely understood that scene. 

            So I understand the truth or theory behind the idea that we, as people, do not know or do not understand what is foreign to us.  But I disagree with the further notion that no one can relate, no one can understand, and no one will have any interest in those different experiences. Quite contrarily, some of my favorite conversations or discoveries have been with my family and friends back home as they experience Peace Corps and Peru with me.  Once while talking with my mom about how I ask her for advice on things I know are foreign to her, she commented on how she is on this journey with me.  The idea of people at home being on a journey with me was a comforting and beautiful thought.  As I share my experiences in Peru through my blog, pictures, and conversations, I have had the opportunity to also learn about family members’ and friends’ lives through their responses.  They very much can relate, can understand, and are interested.  Some of these connections are below.

            After reading a blog about integration and community upon moving to new sites, my grandmother equated it to moving with my grandfather and her young children to different towns with the responsibility of establishing the family in that community where everything is unknown and knew.

            My mom compared my experience of living a Peruvian style of life to what it kind of felt like to visit her aunt in a home.  For those hours while she was there, my mom left her world outside the doors and entered into the culture and world of Penick.  How and when they ate, a slower pace, what they spoke about, ect.  Through that experience, she understood how I felt to be living in a world other than my own.

            To say others are not interested in hearing things they do not fully understand is to limit our perspectives to a very selfish level.  I will never understand or know the ins and outs of chemistry, biology, pharmacotherapy, and the elements that go into my boyfriend’s study and work in pharmacy.  However, that does not mean I am not interested in hearing what he wants to share.  One night when I was living in Columbia, he came over for dinner after a test.  Upon arriving and noticing he was agitated, he took a few minutes to vent about a frustrating question on the test.  Granted, I did not understand one word he used while referencing the difference between this drug and that, but either way I had interest to hear about what was part of his life.  We are limited to our experiences and our knowledge, but what makes us human, what gives us community, is to still be interested in those experiences and knowledge of others; thus, we learn and grow together.