The Ws and Hs

So I was riding a bus to visit my grandparents yesterday. It was a little before 4 PM and I was the only one in the bus. We stopped at a bus stop where the bus is scheduled to wait for around 10 minutes. I moved to the front of the bus because the next stop will be where I have to get down.

Suddenly, the bus driver - Mary was her name - asked me “So where did you come from?”

“Indonesia,” I answered. And after that, as happened to me many times before, she started asking questions about Indonesia. Some of them are about the Muslim extremist groups in Indonesia, about the family structure in Indonesia, about relationship between Muslim and Catholics, about America’s financial problems, and, because I mentioned that I am a Chinese descendant, some issues concerning China’s ‘One Child Policy’ and its problems.

Right now, I have made a conclusion that America is a curious country. Yes, they are one of (if not the most) the powerful countries in the world. But its people know so little beyond their national boundary. That is why they are very curious, in a good way, towards foreigners.

However, sometimes, they are too proud. When talking aboud China, I get the feeling that she still thinks that China is still worse than America, that China will face a lot of trouble in the future, etc etc.

She’s not to be blamed. It’s what every person would have done. If anybody called Indonesia as a bad country, I would’ve sprung up myself and defend my country’s honor. It is all about personal opinion. And when you love your country and think highly of it and support it however far you travel from it, that’s when a country can survive.

But I still think that the world could have been better if there are more occasions like this; when two people can get together accidentally and exchange opinions about the world to better their understanding of what is out there.

Either way, it was worth the frozen toes and an hour bus ride.