Talking to the $*&@ing wall

I have recently concluded that I shall spend the rest of my time in Syria having conversations with the wall. I know what to expect from the wall. The wall doesn't lie, tell half-truths, say "malesh", discuss Islam-for-Christians, spew propaganda about the school or country, or even drive like a coked-up eight year old late for the latest X-Box session. The wall is what it is meant to be, or anything I deem it to be during our conversation (I will be playing the part of the wall as well.)

My German retreat was a slow decent into the soothing warmness that is the First World. Things were clean. CLEAN! People had a sense of how to drive - in general there were rules. Rules for just about everything, and most people followed them. In fact, I probably broke more rules than any one person I watched for two weeks. I jaywalked, jumped in between cars, rode transportation without paying, and I am sure I broke numerous unspoken rules just out of ignorance of the culture. I recently came from a place where you can do just about anything you want, apart from starting a revolution, and if you have enough money or power everything will be fine. In the Third World these people ruin it for everyone. In the First World there are so many rules that you have to be stupid rich or amazingly well connected to get away with anything big. These type of things are generally called "conspiracy theory" because they are too connected and expensive to even concieve they exist.

In the Third World this corruption floats just below the surface of the everyday pondscum of life. These carp just swim around waiting to take a bite and everyone knows they are there. In the ocean the most dangerous fish come out of nowhere and strike fast. They hide in the deep, and the darkness, and are amazingly bold at how they secretely survive. The pond is a shallow, murky, plain view of a static life. The big fish are small and everyone knows they are around. God I hate stinky little ponds.

Have you ever been somewhere that with a little love could be amazing. I feel like that here everyday. These people are so warm and energetic and at the same time allow little fish to inhabit and ruin their pond. With the religious diatribe put aside, I really see the potential in this place and in these people. Survival is distinctly natural to all beings, but why would a populace of people merely choose to survive. Agh now we are discussing politics. I find that in this place, much like the big fish comparison, there is a zero-sum orientation amongst the people. It seems that those in power only believe they can have a nice life by not allowing anyone else to triuph. It happens all over the world, and in some ways, at least economically, it creates a balance in the market. If you creat a vacuum and then create scarcity, you will have created a perpetual decay. I keep seeing the potential in the decay.

When I got to the airport in Frankfurt I had a slow realization of what I was returning to. Imagine a terminal of orderly lines and modernized techniques. Round a corner to a melee of people with piles of luggage and baggage strewn about in no resemblence of a line. A low roar of arguing coming from the counter and from each queue of family and friends readying to check-in with the airline. I struck up a conversation with a man and his companions and in German, Arabic, and English we found out who each of us was, our names, our destinations and so on. It seems the melee was families with way too much luggage scrambling to group together to take advantage of a group check-in/group weight limit rule. Most of them were strangers banding together in a sort of quasi mathmatical way to maximize luggage per group size. The madness had it's method - it was loud and annoying but I DID understand the method. Being the light packer that I am I grouped up with the guys, and later an old woman and her husband, to let them take advantage of my lack of luggage. Most of these people don't travel often and when they do they load up on things they can't get back at home, as well as gifts for friends and the odd find. I understand this all too well as I can't find any clothes that fit me very well in Syria. Everything here is made for middle sized skinny people with narrow shoulders. I have since found a few shops that I can buy from, but mostly I can't wear anything made here.

My experience in line at the airport summed up my experience in Syria. The few privelaged go to the front of the line, take their nice clothes and things they got outside of the country because they can leave, and get on the plane first. Everyone else is left scrambling to work together to make the best of their situation. Enough said.

So I am going to have my conversations with walls from now on. I have discussed as much politics, religion and education as I can take without getting thrown in jail. And that ever enticing topic of sex is a non topic - they even take the kissing off the television programs they import. With my three main guns down for the count that puts me out of business. And those of you that know what a windbag I can be sometimes might be suprised to hear that I finally shut up. I am now going to wander the earth with my staff and a bag showing people how to live life correctly through Kung Fu - oh wait that's Kain...and he's here to help. I am going to spend the rest of my semester seeing the sights, tasting the food, reading some books, and waiting to return to the First World.
"The ONLY world where you can piss on a holy book, burn a flag, eat genetically modified foods, and buy a car twenty-four hours a day."

Damn I miss it!