(no subject)

[theohsocurlyone]

The fact is, you take all the shit that goes with your new experiences because you just know it will all be worth it in the end. Even if it turns out that it was a huge bummer and you'd never do it again - AT LEAST YOU TRIED. That was what kept me going - the knowledge that if I hadn't done it, I'd never have known. And, of course, the outcome was that my two years in Indonesia remains among the most precious years of my life. Believe me, whatever crap you're going through, it will have been worthwhile in the end. As for your relationships with others - well, I sympathise there too because I never found it that easy to make friends. My own philosophy there emerged from a very sound fellow I worked with called Don Wills. Don was a New Zealander who had married an Indonesian woman who was a widow with two small children. He had fallen in love with Indonesia and gone native, though he used to fly wife and children back to New Zealand to visit the dentist! Anyway, he used to tell me that the old Maori way was that you always have to look for the good in people. Human relationships are difficult, especially when you are all crowded together, and people will always piss you off. However, you must always remember that there is something good in everyone and that is the piece you have to look for. Then you will be a friend to everyone. And Don Wills was. No one had a bad word for him, and everyone admired him. I was never as good as Don Wills, but I always remember his philosophy and try to put it in practice - especially at work.

I love my Dad, and I miss him. I'll be home soon enough, but I still do. That's all I can really say without welling up.