People always seemed to ask me the same three questions upon hearing of my move to Australia. First would invariably be an intrigued, 'Why?' This would quickly be followed by the next most logical question, 'What is it you plan on doing there?' Fairly easy questions to answer, even if their doing is hard. They were questions I had already asked and answered myself.
The third question always threw me off,
at least in the beginning. 'What do your parents and family think of
all this?' Looking back, that's not such a surprising question, but
I'd never given much thought to it. At first, I would simply answer
with a polite, 'I don't quite know actually, we've not really
discussed it, but I'm sure they're fine with it.' And I knew they
were. They've been with me for most every step of this journey,
albeit mostly for moral support. It was never something I had to ask,
so I didn't. The understanding was inherent. Words, however useful,
are not always necessary.
In part, they know the wisdom of
attachment, and of non-attachment, the wisdom of holding on and of
letting go. Which are subsets of the wisdom of love, and I know my
parents and family love me. How lucky am I! This is why they were
able to so easily accept my adventure to Australia, even though the
parting was hard.
It amuses me that I'm am still
answering those same three questions half a world away.
Humans! Through all of our differences, our customs, our traditions,
our routines, we still desire for, crave for, fear and wonder for the
same things. Sure they may have different names, expressions, or
forms, but their meaning is the same. We desire a place in this
world, but crave for more. We fear losing our place, even if it is
unknown, and we wonder at those who are free from any place, making
the world their own. And so, for whatever reason, habit I suppose, we
ask the same questions. We ask them until we find a suitable answer,
and even if we have found an answer, because of habit, we still
continue to ask the question! Sure the words are different each time,
but like before, the meaning is the same, and so is the answer.
So, why did I choose to go to Oz? I am
searching, following a dream. What am I looking for? I'm not quite
sure yet. Certainly for adventure, and knowledge that can only be
found through doing. Most of the reasons are unclear to me, or have
yet to be discovered. I do know that I want to be here. I have things
to learn here. This is one path that I have consciously decided to
journey upon, knowing that it would be full of uncertainty and doubt,
and I will travel it till it's end. I can see the path set before me,
though I do not know where it leads. This is what inspires me to
travel it.
And lastly, What is it I plan on doing
here? I can assure you of one thing, I will be living.
Beautiful! Have you considered becoming a writer? Scratch that, you already are. Thanks for sharing! Love, Matim
ReplyDeleteThis is amazing. I hope to have the opportunity to do something like this (again) in the near-ish future. Have fun Ian!
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