big world lotta people

Be honest, if you have never been to Dhaka yourself or seen a picture of it, have any thoughts of its people ever crossed your mind? Not vague reference to Bangladesh as somewhere very far away, but actual deliberate imaginings about the people going about their lives there?  I hadn’t either.  Realizing that fact during a drive through heavy traffic our first week in Bangladesh did a number on my impression of my place in the world- I had never spared a thought for the multitudes stuck in traffic any more than they had imagined me or my little town in Vermont.  How could this place that I'd never even considered have so many people in it?  

And this just one of the reasons why I love living abroad.  I love how it forces me out of the center of my universe and to appreciate that there are countless other perspectives on the world and that I do not have a hope to understand or even be aware of most of them.

This isn't an excuse to give up and retreat into the safety of my walled house and garden, well-guarded apartment complex, or lush expat club.  I just hope keeping this in mind helps me remember that my story is important to me but it is only one of multitudes: on the small scale, helping me restrain myself from making judgements on other peoples' choices, especially if I don't know where they come from or what they're going through. On a large scale it helps me get excited for yet another move, despite all the work involved, for all there is yet to discover.