Same, Same, but Different

I remember the moment my soul was at ease as our plane lifted up in the air 3 weeks ago and glided over New York. No more anticipation of “Am I ready to live out of a backpack again? What about my green smoothies? And am I sure I want to meditate heavily for 31 days?”

The plane and I were up in the air, about 3 hours into a 20 hour flight and all the anxieties washed away. As we floated about planet earth, I giggled to myself. What the difference between me being dropped down below on any different region of the world? We’re all people. There’s always going to be land and water, laughter and wonders, love and wisdom.

The big joke in Thailand is “same, same, but different”. It is overused by tourguides trying to pick up the naïve backpacker and take him on his tuk tuk to random places around the city for $1.50 and it is overwritten on neon tank tops for the travel-proud Americano. However cheesy it rings to the travel-sick adventurer, and albeit cliché, ‘tis the truth.

I heard from a wise guru yesterday that “all the problems in the world are created by the idea of separateness.”

mmmm. Let that one sink in.

Think about how someone asks a question about your dog, your t-shirt, your music, and you start to get a little excited inside. Think about how you can’t help but smile when you see a child rolling around on the ground giggling. Energy is contagious. What we do, how we live our lives, affects the world.

Pick up your milk carton, look at your banana, chew your bread- you do understand that every product is made from materials that are extracted from Earth? You don’t think that when you eat them, they disappear- you know they become a part of you, right?

So, how come we live with this idea of separation? How come we put no thought into the people who drive us in their yellow cabs?-- for one day I spoke to mine and he actually paid ME for the ride (as a contribution to my fundraiser).  How come we buy things we don’t need without thinking and then we throw them in our garbage as if all the plastic will disintegrate, as if hands didn’t work hard in a factory to build it for us, as if the company that created it cared about the treatment of it’s employees?

Are you living in a way where you take some time to think about using your voice, your actions, your money to give power to your highest commitments? Or are you just doing the motions? Are you just a robot who has said “ok life, you got me. Ok society, you rule my life. Ok world, I’ve got nothing left to give. This is it. There’s not enough time or ways. This is just the way it is.”

I spent 3 days in Thailand with a hill tribe. As we turned around a steep bend in the countryside, the smoke crawled over the mountainside from the slash and burn farming. A mother was scrubbing her clothes in the river below. Chickens were chasing each other around the rice paddies. Sure, I was in Thailand…that’s what the land boundaries told me anyways…but I may as well have been in El Salvador.

Maybe you’re sick of the “it reminded me of El Salvador” stories…but I guess that’s what happens when something pangs so deeply in your heart and accompanies you everywhere in your soul. It changes your view on “reality” and becomes a part of your every-minute-you. It is not in your consciousness, it IS your consciousness.

Point being, I lived those 3 days in tiny bamboo huts in a very small and rural village in Thailand without electricity and running water. I could not speak a word of Thai, but I laughed with the children in the school yard and chased puppies with the drunk guys in the evening. I helped Dang (our guide) cook a rice curry dinner and then bathed behind a rock in the river (before Dang casually tried to join me).

I laid beneath my mosquito net on the bamboo floor at night and I could see the stars from between the cracks in the roof.

And then it started to rain.

A fairytale, I know. I’m aware that it’s too good to be true.

So sure enough, the tears began to roll down my cheeks.

Because it was all so beautiful. Nature. Stars. Crisp water and genuine smiles. People who care about each other and the places we step our feet.

Because I missed Lili and her innocent smile. Because I missed my little Salvadoran doggie and how he chased the chickens. Because I missed my latrine, because at least we used toilet paper.

I cried a little because I thought about how Dang told me that 10 years ago this village was different. Now, they are used to the tourists popping in to say hello. They try to sell us bracelets, massages, overpriced sodas…they get angry if we don’t comply.

I face so many inner struggles about venturing the world, longing to experience all it has to teach me, yet fretting my carbon-footprint, emotional abuse, and confusion I send to the minds of those I enter.

Same, same, but different.

“Hey, massage-lady. I aint go no money either. My credit cards are maxed out and I’m looking for a loan to grad school. But how’s your day going? Is this your daughter?”

She walks away.

Same, same, but different.

“In your eyes, do you just see me as a big ole American-Bank-Account? Do you realize I actually care about you? Do you know I already love you? Your boldness and ambition. The way you tend your chickens and the children you brought into this world?”

It’s okay. There are misunderstandings, I know. It’s not her fault she sees me that way. It happens in my country, too.

I gave my camera to the smiling tot who was too young to understand the challenges of the adult-world. Later, I flipped through his photos as I sat upon a bamboo rail overlooking the mountains.

Give a camera to a child if you really want to see the world, if you want to learn a culture, if you want to think and discover.

Stray dogs with flea bellies. Blurred shots of kids chasing each other in torn clothing. The inside of the outhouse. The man squatting above a smokey wood-burning stove. His own, very, very dirty barefoot toes.

I love this life.

It may seem strange to some. “what is she doing out there again? How can she live like that?” To me it’s not odd at all. It is natural.

Not everyone has to do this. Everyone has their own path. And each path can be beautiful. We just have to embrace it.

Be friendly to all those who are around you. Energy is contagious so when you think of all the people you spray when you sneeze, recognize you can have the same affect with your smile.

If you want to do something and your heart starts to beat and creates a little feeling of un-comfortableness, don’t turn away- jump in. Those moments have the best outcomes.

Attempt looking at new people, old people, strange places, awkward rides, as opportunities for growth and learning. Everyone and everything has gifts to offer the world- for we all share this same light and desire to be loved and happy. Blur the lines that divide our bodies, our places, our countries and see these inner gifts instead. We’re all the same, same, but different.