This year has sorta been like the George Clooney flick, Up in the Air. His ‘backpack’ speech, though very shallow, actually resonated with me.
“You have a new backpack.
Now this time, I want you to fill it with people
Start with casual acquaintances, friends of friends, folks around the office.And then you move into the people you trust with your most intimate secrets.
Your cousins, your aunts, your uncles. Your brothers, your sisters, your parents.
And finally your husband, your wife, your boyfriend, your girlfriend.
Get them into that backpack.
Don’t worry I’m gonna ask you to light it on fire.
Feel the weight of that bag.
Make no mistake your relationships are the heaviest components in your life.
Feel the straps cutting into your shoulders.
All those negotiations and arguments and secrets, the compromises.
You need to carry all that weight.
Then you set that bag down.
Some animals were meant to carry each other to live symbiotically for a lifetime.
Star-crossed lovers, monogamous swans.
We are not those animals.
The slower we move, the faster we die.
We are not swans, We’re sharks.”
How does this relate to me? I haven’t had many connections to ‘weigh me down’ in Asia, which is actually really sad. Probably because I took this year in Asia as an opportunity to not just gain new perspective, but to be largely disconnected. I haven’t kept up with most friends, and I’ve been mainly doing my own thing here. Didn’t take pictures even.
But backpack emptied and all, I’ve actually learned a lot this year. Being adaptable is always hard, but thats life, eh? It still ticks me off that I can’t understand Cantonese. Yea, I don’t really know what’s going on around me most of the time. But I digress…
Well, I’ve had a great run (sprinkled with a lot of discouraging setbacks, but thankful nonetheless) here in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China, but my time is up. I’m definitely looking forward to going back home.
Finals for two more weeks. Give me strength and understanding Lord. You are my strength when I am weak, my healer.
