Nomadic Hope
Inspired by Jen, Dody, Jesse and Soad allow me to state something about goodbyes: As you get older things will get taken from you; that's just a part of life. This is magnified with a nomadic lifestyle.
To be a nomad is to be alone.
Nomadic by nature is a restless, mobile, peregrine means of living. Change in one area of your life means an impact in other areas of your life. You meet some of the most amazing people all over the the world. And then you leave. Then you meet new ones. And you leave them. You stay in touch; but less than a fraction remain in your life beyond a few years. Most friendships fall under the "2 year" rule of thumb to remain alive. So you end up with this traffic of people coming into your life and leaving; sometimes you have more friends than average sometimes less, and this continues. Tears and goodbyes become a part of your life; till you get used to it and find yourself accustomed, nay calloused. Once in a while a certain goodbye will really impact you and you will then know it's something special; but still you plough on forward.
  | When you leave you don't know when you'll meet again; that's the fear isn't it? Of the unknown. Of the future. I remember when Drake was leaving to Istanbul from Michigan on his traineeship. I said "well, see you when I see you POS"... it took 1.5 years for it to happen, Nick I haven't seen for for nearly 3 years, but it happened. In Sao Paulo last week, randomly and unplanned a 3-year reunion took place. Oriana from Colombia, Mari from Brazil, Johanna from Colombia and David from Venezuela. We all met in Cartagena, February 2002, stayed in touch to varying degrees, and suddenly all found ourselves together, in the same city, in Brazil. We were all sitting together and suddenly I blurted out "happy 3-year reunion!" "Huh?" "Three years ago, this week we all met!" :) Also in the group was Rita from Portugal who I met when I chaired a conference there in April 2003. Totally random, unplanned, together almost as though by some invisible hand, there we were. Still friends; still smiling at good memories and creating new ones. The concept of "nomading" is intertwined with a concept of "hope"... nomads would leave to find greener pastures; always believing that something better is in store for them. When they found their hearts desire, they would settle down and cease to roam. They never cease to strive, never cease to hope, never cease to believe. Beyond my usual cynical perspective, I want to give a message of hope to all those that roam, that have to leave things behind, and all those who watch loved ones leave. Hope seperates us from beasts, it is a dangerous yet powerful thing; our greatest strength and our greatest weakness. Just believe, good things will come your way when you least expect it. The future is unknown, yes, but I believe it is also beautiful. |
Roam and find yourselves, and remember that life is what happens to you as you plan it. So wave away friends, and say your goodbyes; the world is smaller than we think, and I'll see you when I see you. As they say in Russian: Da Svidanya (till we meet again).
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6 Comments:
Amen to that!
"The Person who feels real inside can be alone without fearing that he will cease to exist, either in his own mind or in the minds of other people. He knows that when he is not with the people he loves he can still be 'held' by them and is real in their thoughts. He knows too that when he is alone he is not alone with no one, but is alone with his own imagination, thoughts, feelings, experiences and Memories."
- Stephanie Dowrick, Intimacy and Solitude
Thanks, Digs. I needed that. :)
It's like you've been reading my mind and putting my thoughts on paper--- thanks! :D
(sorry, that sounded like a pick up line :P)
Devrim, I'm speechless.
Your words are very touching and I know that they are the truth. I guess sometimes we know that we should let go but it just hurts too much.
It's so strange that with @ I feel that all the people I met before I will cross paths with and meet again. We have a lot in common most especially the life of a nomad. Maybe It's wanting to hold on to something constant for a change. A lot of people warned me that I must stay in touch with my non-@ friends because when it's all over (not soon for me!) there won't be anyone there as all the other nomaders will still be roaming the world, so I'm just trying to take some nomaders advice on this...
My friends are not very accepting of @ and shout at me if I even mention the word @ when we meet. They don't want to understand what @ means to me bcoz all it represents to them is something that takes me away from them.
I'm living, learning, travelling, meeting new people, broadning my view on life, discovering the world, living diversity and discovering my own identity just by being in @. @ has definetly changed me to the better and that's something that I will never give up no matter what.
Maybe that's why it's so difficult to have non nomaders as friends; they just don't understand... My friends don't have a vision, mission, goal in life. They don't care about making a difference and that is very difficult to accept, but it's still so hard to give up.
Soad, friends are friends; I wouldn't categorize them too much as "aiesec" vs. "non-aiesec."
You are going through a period where your character is being molded and you are changing, so are your friends. Your "composition" of friends will be different in a few years; you may find that you are moving in a different direction than most of your childhood friends and with time can relate less and less to them. So be it, it happens. You may actually not even miss some of them later and might have some wonderful new friends in your life.
Just make an effort to maintain a relationship with the people that are important to you all along the way. In life it's always best not to close any doors you don't need to. :)
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