Saturday, January 20, 2007
So i have heard people complain that when you travel outside of these great states, people don't like Americans very much. I have always thought that to be a bit of an exageration, and we all know that exageration is a form of pollution. But seriously, i have traveled to Costa Rica and to Kenya before and didn't experience this type of "hate" that I have had described to me...that is until this past trip. It is not the best time to be American if you want to travel. Now don't get me wrong, i never felt unsafe, especially in Kenya, but i did since a general distain for Americans and especially Texans. I can't tell you the number of times that when i revealed I was from Texas that I felt like all of the sudden I was looked down upon. It got so bad that Jamie and i just started talking with a fake accent and pretending like we were from whatever city we were in (not really but can't you imagine us trying to be irish, or english...haha).
I did a lot of thinking about this sad reality that is upon us. How did we get to this place? What can we do to change people's perspectives? Honestly there isn't much that can be done to change how people think about Americans, unless the things that have shaped these views change. Bono talks a lot about product USA. He is a big fan of America. He speaks about our image and how it may be tainted, but that there are ways to change it. I guess i didn't realize that it really did need repairing. I just wanted to go on record and say, as an american who knows how great this country can be, I want to be apart of helping reshape and redesign a new USA logo. Let's make USA stand for Love and Peace and Humilty.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
In case you didn't recognize that opening it is from the beatles song back in the ussr and i changed it to usa. because you see i have been out of the country for the last 18 days and i am back. thats right, i am back! i had the time of my life and loved every minute of it but i am also very glad to be home. its hard to be away that long. i mean, i know that you guys all missed the dudleys so much. jamie and i had a wonderful time in ireland and england. of course i have written alittle bit about kenya. there just are not enough words to describe kenya. this time was so different than the first time. i was able to let my guard down alittle more and it allowed me to experience things that i might have missed the first time. i think last time i was so scared that something bad was going to happen that i didn't allow myself to try and see what it was like to be a kenyan, this time i did and they have an amazing life. simplicity is a beautiful thing. to not have anything and to be so happy, wow!!!
So when i left kenya i headed to london where i stayed with Peter and Becca (pdodd's cousin). Nicest people in all of england. Had a bed for me, a hot meal waiting and even gave me money for the bus. Good folks. I will share more about all of this and these great folks later. I just got tired from jet lag and decided to cut this post short and go to bed. but i am back. holla!
cheers, ben
