Getting out of the South

I was born in Decatur, so technically I am from the South, but I was never raised here until I came back for high school.

My parents were Christian missionaries, and so I tagged along with them wherever their ministry took them.

We spent a short amount of time in Barbados, much of which I have little recollection of because I was a baby.

However, we spent five years in a small, former soviet country, Latvia, and I remember these years very well.

I returned to the U.S. a well-traveled fifth grader, having seen more than most will see in their life.

I understand this fact, and realize that I am blessed to have had these experiences.

But I returned to much opposition toward traveling, and it saddened me that people I met in high school couldn't care less about getting out of the boundaries we call the Deep South.

Sweet tea and food so good that it makes you want to slap your grandma is all here, so why leave it?

This is the ignorance I came back to.

I realize that the southern culture is pleasant and comfortable, but all I would ask of some is to venture out for a short time.

There is much to be learned from other people of other cultures that one will never learn just staying here.

The people I encountered in Europe were a lot more appreciative of their possessions and their time, and it reflected in their lives.

Because of the Soviet Union oppression, the Latvian people are now much more grateful for their lives and being able to have freedom.

It is almost comparable to what the first settlers of the U.S. experienced, true freedom from a government that they did not support.

Due to this new freedom, the Latvian people appreciated what little they could buy and own themselves, and they wanted to share it with me even though I was a foreigner.

They didn't care where I was from. I was a friend to them and not an oppressor, and so they wanted to share life with me.

Time was much slower in the Latvian culture because it is now theirs to manage and use.

So no one is in a hurry to get anywhere, and everyone spends good quality time together without worrying about where they should be and if they will be on time.

Life altogether is slower and in a sense, more enjoyable.

I relate it to the fact that none of the generations alive at the moment in the U.S. have ever been oppressed by another people group, and thus take for granted what we do have.

I never would have learned any of this if my family hadn't stepped out of this culture and into another.

It just isn't possible to learn everything in our lifetime by our own culture.

Individually we have our pros and cons, and the only way to get a well-rounded view is by experiencing how others live.

So get out of the boundaries of the South, and the U.S., and see what someone else has to offer.