Finding my way home

On May 13th a series of rainstorms began what would become the worst flooding in the Balkan region in more than a century. With billions in damage and over 40 dead, this event should have been at the forefront of my mind. Instead I found myself worrying about whether I would catch the flight to England for part 2 of this summer's cultural exposure. I tried to rationalize that worry: I had spent money and time planning for the rest of my summer, it made sense to be concerned. Then, looking outside, I saw the Miljacka River. A great torrent of deep brown water crashed into itself, waves that would pull you under in an instant. The river roared with its swollen water. To think that this was just a small river running through downtown Sarajevo, where there were at least some sort of flood management systems in place. In the narrow mountainside canyons there would be no controlling the water. Some of the group watched a video of a home being destroyed in all of three seconds. In the government's fragmented state there was little chance of any emergency relief or financial assistance after the floods. People were watching decades of toil torn away all around them. After the floods they would return to empty plains of mud where their homes had been. Any surviving livestock would be in disarray, spread miles in each direction. Someone's mother, child, and friend had died while I sat in a downtown Sarajevo hostel worrying about my flight home. I would get home eventually, and my home would still be there! I realized how little of a right I had to worry for myself during the floods. Slowly I think I began to understand something about my place in the world. I had come to the trip excited to "experience a new culture" and "expand my horizons"! It was not wandering through different museums and trying a bunch of food that would teach me a lesson. To understand the burdens that others carry is so much more telling of their perceptions of the world. People in other nations have every right to consider Americans loud and selfish if we can't stop for a second and truly empathize with their joys and struggles.
This trip has left me with some sense of humility and the desire to grow that over the course of my life. The goal is that someday I will be able to step into a completely foreign environment and immediately fall into step, experience the highs and lows of life in a different place. Perhaps then I'll understand my role in these different communities and where I can begin to make my mark on the world.