Entered on 30 May 2003 at 8:22 a.m..
Little Gestures
Sorry about not updating yesterday, but I'm desperately trying to meet my deadline of having the simulator complete by today. Well let's just say that like all computer programmers I'm behind, and it won't happen. However with a little luck and some divine guidance it might be mostly done by Sunday. So here's hoping.
Today I wanted to talk about things that I have become more aware of by being on the outside of community and culture. It is interesting to me the kind of normal polite behavior that I used to use in the US towards everyone can seem rather cold and heartless upon retrospection. I wonder how many foreign students in the US that I knew felt this lonely and out-of-the-loop. How many were secretly hoping to be taken home on strange American holidays and included. How many would have gladly welcomed a dinner invitation, or an invitation to do just about anything that they themselves didn't have to organize? How many were absolutely thrilled that someone remembered their birthday and thought enough to celebrate it, or were secretly disappointed when no one noticed? These are the type of things that I'm now acutely aware of, but I wonder if I will forget them when I go home. For those of you out there reading this I encourage you to include any random foreign nationals (even if they aren't really foreign, but just seem out of place) in some even that you are doing over the summer. Sometimes little gestures can mean quite a lot.