Traveler's Log: Days 14-17

Things have been rather uneventful since I returned from Delhi. The area in Bangalore that I'm staying in is pretty desolate. There's really nothing close by other than a couple restaurants and a temple. To make matters worse, the conditions of roads and the absence of sidewalks make walking anywhere an impossible task. My entry today will be a short one because I will only discuss one unfortunate experience and the lesson I took away from the incident.

I had wanted to go see the temple near by where I'm staying, so my friend, with whom I've been staying with, and I decided to get a rickshaw to take us. After being told by three drivers that they wouldn't take us to to temple, which was strange considering how close it is, we decided to walk. The walk itself wasn't too bad. It only took about twenty minutes. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the temple we were told by a security guard that it was closed. No problem though! The walk back seemed quicker, as return journeys typically do, but as we were nearing the gate to her neighborhood something happened...

We were probably a couple minutes away when someone threw a pen at me from a moving vehicle. This may sound somewhat humorous, and it most likely would have been if I were struck by the side of the pen, however, the pen was thrown like a dart and the point ended up piercing my shirt. Fortunately, it didn't do any physical damage aside from leaving a small bruise which has since vanished. But the fact of the matter is: someone maliciously threw a pen at me for no reason. 

Now getting something randomly hurled at you is not something you just brush off. In fact, it took me a couple of hours to internalize what happened. After the initial moments of anger-- "who does that person think they are throwing stuff at me?"--I spent the next couple of hours mediating on why someone would do that and, more importantly, what lesson could it possibly have been meant to teach?

The lesson I concluded on after my meditation was a simple one: sometimes in life you'll be attacked, yelled at, treated unfairly, or put down, but you shouldn't allow these instances to hinder your own experience. For example, I could have let the experience of getting hit by a pen ruin the remainder of my trip rather than simply allowing it to ruin a couple hours; that is, I could have let that one attack dictate how the rest of my time in India goes. But instead, I choose to internalize the incident and let it go.

This is such an important lesson to learn in life, and it applies to virtually anything. Whether you physically get attacked, get a failing grade on an assignment, get yelled at by your boss or spouse, get put down because your writing proficiency, or whatever the case may be, you shouldn't allow such occurrences to prevent you from doing what you want to do. You cannot allow such moments to determine how you experience life. Moments like that are an inevitable part of life, and while they are never enjoyable while occurring, they often provide some sort of lesson which can be used to improve yourself.

While this was definitely the most uneventful week I've spent in India, I think the lesson I took away from it was perhaps the most important one so far. Have you ever been treated poorly while traveling to another country? If so, what lessons did you learn from the experience? Let us know down in the comments, and as always, if you have any questions or concerns, email us at levelupproficiency@gmail.com or send us a message on Facebook.

-Ryan M. Shea, English Proficiency Specialist