October 25, 2019: My Ugly American Evolution

Kuwait is an interesting place.
It is a juxtaposition of old ideas and ideals with modern ones and a stark contrast of Western and Middle Eastern flavors.

And as with any place, the flavors and impressions you get from it are colored by the people with whom you sit or surround yourself.
As one could probably note by picking up from my initial posts on this blog, my evolution was definitely affected by time and people.

I suppose, just like with my evolving appreciation for Arabic coffee, when the natural tendency to compare and contrast dies away, a distilled image comes into focus, and it becomes easier to take in unique qualities that stand alone. It was when I kept attempting Arabic coffee with my American definition and understanding of coffee, that I did not like it. But when I took it on as something completely different, and no longer held it up to be measured with my cultural yardstick, I found I really enjoyed it.

Kuwait is like that for me too.

I know I made mistakes when I was first here in trying to see how this or that was similar, different, better, worse than what I have always known. But that was not fair. It is, as we say, being the 'Ugly American.' And it is truly ugly and arrogant to go to other places and cultures with the notion that they must somehow be held up to anything else. It is in the letting go of a culturally inculcated and nurtured idea that 'America is number 1', and everybody else must want and be like America to be worthy, where appreciation and real growth take place.

It is also in this letting go, that the idea of being a 'global citizen' makes sense. We are no more tied to place or belong to place than a migratory bird is. We have the ability, not always the freedom, to pick up and move to another continent, country, state, city, or neighborhood. And in doing so, we start to see ourselves and world anew. We see that we have cultural trappings and ideas, but they can be softened and opened to allow for other understandings and ways of seeing. And with those eyes, comes the ability to not only live and let live, but also to understand, evolve, and love.