Zi gong (a disciple of Confucius) asked:
"Is there any one word that could guide a person throughout life?"
The Master replied:
"How about 'shu' (reciprocity).
Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself!"

Analects XV:24.

When I was no part of them

In 1990 I was working as Academic Department secretary at Centro Cultural Costarricense Norteamericano (CCCN). I worked from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. when classes finished.

After 7:00 p.m. there were just grownups taking English courses, and few administrative people. Some of them were from the American Embassy.

The building was very quiet at night. My office was downstairs and there was a little rest place with a TV set outside my workplace. Normally the TV was for played educative videos from a VCR.

Then, at the end of that year, the Academic Director, an american lady, turned on the CNN transmission every night at 7:00 p.m. Sometimes I looked at the news, but it was just about war issues, international leaders meetings, ONU declarations, and things like that.

One night, there were a lot of commotion at the CCCN and some American people came downstairs to watch the news.

At the TV, the screen was dark. The reporter was just giving numbers about army issues that I did not matter. Near 9:00 p.m. in the screen became visible some lights as fireworks looked from far away.

After I while, I noticed the people around the TV set. They had long faces. Their eyes were sad. Their foreheads were frowned. Their hands were tense. I turned my head to the news and I did not get it. I could not imagine why they were so shocked if there was just a firework far, far away.

When the images at the news changed, they looked at each other. They went close and they were saying soft words between them. I had never seen before so many American adults touching each others. They kept their hands in someone else arms in a comforting way.

They goodbye to each other and they left the building walking slowly as if they were carrying a heavy weight on their shoulders. The Desert Storm had begun.

I felt myself as an intruder. I was no part of their feelings. We spent a lot of holidays together. We celebrated President Day, Thanksgiving, 4th July, Flag Day, Memorial Day, Valentines Day, and eventhough I did not mind some of these celebrations, they love to share to Ticos co-workers their traditional food, activities, decorations and of course, thier frame of mind.

But not that day. Not even the next days... or months!

Food Differences

It is not easy to be involved in someones else life.
Last year, an American teacher came to my house to spend the weekend.
She is an old and really caring lady. She explained to me that she needed to have some food every three hours in order to take her pills. I told her that if I did not be around, she could look for something to eat around my kitchen.
Next day, I woke up at 6:00 a.m. and she told me that she had breakfast two hours ago. She congratulates me by the quality of costarrican pepperoni. She told me that it was so soft that she did not have to cook it. She just had it as it was. I was concern because I did not buy any pepperoni. There were just hot dogs at the fridge. Then, she told me that she understood why we have so many pepperoni. I had to ask her to show me that famous pepperoni. She went to my fridge and she opened this litle drawer and there it was: two and a half rounds of SALCHICHON... she had cut it in small rounds and ate it as pepperoni. I had no heart to explained to her that we never eat it raw. And if we have so many of it was because every Saturday night my husband makes some kind of BBQ. Of course, not that Saturday night.

Here I am. This is my first experience on line. I am worried about write things in a public space. What if I offend someone feelings? When I am speaking, I can bother someone, but when I see his or her face I can explain a little more what I was trying to say. I can not see any faces over here!! And of course there is that language thing. It is not the same trying to express feelings writing in your own language than in a second one. I spend a lot of time checking spelling, grammar, and structures. But, what about feelings? Am I been sarcastic? Am I been ethnocentric? Am I been just the way I am? So, I will try to do my best and I expect that you people make comments to be sure about this blogger thing.
As a really loved friend of mine used to say:
"Se hace lo que se puede
con lo que se tiene y
la gracia de Dios"... I wonder if God agrees with it!