one of my many quirks is having spontaneous bursts of yearning, and because i am generally hanging out on my own when these bursts occur, like today after the Architecture class i'm taking, where i sat introspectively on the bench in the quad, observing the stream of students walking by me in segregated clumps - a gaggle of chirpy white girls, a cluster of designer-wearing Asian kids, a pack of athletic guys in baggy jeans and Red Sox caps, a group of freshmen reveling in their new found freedom, all of whom i feel no affinity toward, i direct the intent on sharing these aspirations toward my unsuspecting brother. But sometimes he doesn't answer my calls, so the yearning i experience slowly dissipates within the abyss of my mind, and that's that.
i'd never gotten sucked into the trend of cliques and all that bullshit, in high school or wherever, so i don't really have any horror stories that allows me to personally relate. but just observing these sort of things around me is fascinating. it's like people have restrictions, like they can only hit it off with people who look and sound just like them.
last week i was talking to a girl from Saudi Arabia, and she was telling me how she was already in her third year and she calls her mom at the start of every semester to cry and ask to come home. she isn't weak or timid or anything, in fact she's pretty bad ass and easygoing. obviously, i was really surprised. she explained to me that because her English was a little broken she gets slighted by other students on a daily basis. when asking for help, to form study groups, that sort of thing. when she asks about the assignments just to clarify, they look at her like she's stupid.
"just imagine," she says to me at our table outside of the campus' Dunkin Donuts. "if they were in my country, or any foreign country, and did not understand something. and there was no one to help them. how would they feel?"
ah, empathy. a lost practice. at least i think so. of course it never crossed the minds of those dipshits in her classes. why extend any courtesy to the foreign students sitting right in front of your face when you can do a study abroad in their country for a semester and only then suddenly be fascinated by their people and culture? why travel to distant lands like Saudi Arabia and the like when there's Europe with their sidewalk cafe's and Western brethren who are more recognizable?
