United we stand
Here is the first draft of a speech for college, just the
bare bones that I needed to clean up and reorganize with the help of others,
but I like it none the less.
An achievement that has helped to shape and is still shaping
who I am today would have to be being accepted by the Rotary International
Exchange Program. I worked for three
years to finish high school a year early so I could study abroad for a year in
Japan and then return to the US to enter college right away. The application progress was arduous and one
has to be very involved in the whole process.
Many people are interviewed but only a select few are chosen. Rotary International screens through the
applicants, choosing those with the best academic history and ability to adjust
to a various situation brought on by being in a new environment. I am currently learning the many aspects of
multicultural life. I am making
connections to the world of international teaching, which is what I would like
for a career. This exchange is pushing
my limits as a person. I have thrown
myself into a culture that is so vastly different from my own native one. I have willingly put myself in a position
where communication is hard and any level of understanding is fought for. I am gaining a great appreciation for
international relations between countries that were once sworn enemies, but now
work together towards a future hand in hand.
Rotary International’s goal is creating an understanding between
countries, connecting them in this new generation with new faces and interests.
This is shaping me to be the
multicultural person I am becoming.
There is a saying among us exchangees. “It’s not a year in life, it’s a life in a
year.”
I have almost reached the four month mark, I am almost half way
done with my time here. I can’t tell you
where it has gone, I feel it slipping between my fingers with no way to grasp
it. It’s a little dramatic to say that
way, but I’m sure some of you have felt the same way about one thing or
another.
I waited three years to get back here. I worked, I sacrificed, I did everything in
my power, and here I am. It’s almost
half way done and I can’t explain how this makes me feel. For all the work, it’s paying off. I assure you this. Everything is falling into place as if it
were guided such. I’ve gained friends in
the ALT world, I’ve gained important connections that are rooted in these
communities, I have made friends, and I have made the beginnings of what I will
hope to be working relations in the future.
I miss home, I won’t lie and say I don’t. I miss my family, some days more than
others. All I have to do is think about
how they helped me to get here, how they supported me through Rotary, and how
they are supporting me now. I don’t have
room to be sad with all that support. My
mom has assured me so!
This has given me a feeling of what I would like to do for
the rest of my life. I have always had a
passion for teaching. Maybe it’s because
I had so many good ones in my time, family based and academically as well.
I work as an ALT here without the fabulous pay and benefits,
but Rotary more than makes up for that.
It has given me a demo as to what teaching as a full time ALT would be
like. I enjoy it, I’m passionate about
it, and I can’t wait to jump back into it.
I know I haven’t left yet, I still have more than a few months here, but
I feel like they will fly by. I’m afraid
to blink. I live my life day by day
here, taking my time and paying attention to the little things. I think my friends here are a little amazed
at my attention to detail, but it’s who I am.
Rotary has given me a step-up over my competition. It has given me a base to spread myself over
safely and test new waters. I had wanted
to work in a business situation, but now I know I would be far happier in the
schooling world.
International relations fascinate me, and Rotary has given
me a wonderful gift. They have given me
the beginnings of biculturalism. It is a
gift I can’t put a price on, it’s just too precious for that. I am understating how the rest of the world,
Japan in particular views America. I
knew the world through the eyes of an American raised on the liberal side of
life, this new perspective is refreshing.
I never viewed the world through tinted shades, I knew that American
wasn’t number one in everything. I also
now know that Japan isn’t number one in everything. There is a give and take in being able to
discern what is stereotype and what is real.
This, I think, is Rotary International’s goal. They want to unite the world, one exchange at
a time. They want to break down
stereotypes one at a time. They want to
change the world, one friendship at a time.
It’s an honorable cause, one I am proud to be a part of.
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, Japan and America did
horrible things to each other. We all
know the basics of World War Two, we were all taught the stories in
school. We were taught the American’s
side of story. The winners of war write
the history books after all. Rotary is
changing that, one person at a time. I
now have a deeper understanding of just how hard that war was on the world, and
not just America. I saw the damage of
the atomic bombs second hand, a horrible thing I hope to never see repeated
anywhere. Right there, that is a goal I
believe Rotary to have; to unite the world, to prevent such pain and suffering
from ever happening again. If you have
family, friends, memories, and homes in two countries, you become a link
between them.
I want to be a link between America and Japan. I want to be that bridge between the
two. I want to teach children here
English, and I want to teach children back in America Japanese. It would show them that there is a world beyond
their city, beyond their country, that is just waiting to be explored. I want to further this united front Rotary
has started and keeps strengthening every year with each exchange student who
crosses a countries borders.
This nation I am currently residing in, I find myself
falling deeper for the sights, smells, sounds, touches, tastes, and the
people. These people. Rotary has given me a second place to call
home, a second family, a new life view, and so much more that only other
exchangees can appreciate.
I am here in Japan to shatter stereotypes. To learn about the culture. To learn their language. To learn everything I can about them in just
a year. It’s a daunting task. It’s been hard, no joyride I assure you. It is more than worth every frustrated moment
and every racial boundary I cross. That
moment, where I make eye contact with the person I am talking to, I live for
that. To see their perspective
change. Here is another human being, one
that does not even think in the same language as me, was not raised in my
country, and has no real connections to my nation; but here she stands before
me speaking my own tongue. In that
moment they realize that you are so very much like them.
An issue I come across here, one that I feel most will feel
or has felt, is being ‘stupid’. I use
that term loosely to describe not really knowing what is going on around you,
what the cultural rules are you must follow, and what is being said to
you. We are not ‘stupid’ per say, we
just can’t speak your language.
The times I utter what Japanese I am fluent in, I see that
change, that understanding that they understand that I am also a being who
thinks and observes. I feel they don’t
realize that they do it a lot, where they baby you or treat you as if you know
nothing. Those moments hurt. But they help as much as they sting; you
don’t know how much you really know until someone treats you as if you know
nothing.
I forgive them, I use to do the same without realizing
it. I see the error in my past ways, how
I sometimes treated exchange students like children. I never knew I was doing, not till it
happened to myself. I want to apologize
to those people, they may never see this and I may never be able to talk to
them again; but I’m sorry. I really
am. I know how you felt then, I know how
much it pains the soul to be treated like a lesser.
It’s changing, as I speak more and more fluently, the views
of the people around me are shifting.
Sometimes I have to make a point, or prove myself, but it’s
working.
....we stand
This is me as a Rotarian; changing the world one person at a
time, one conversation at a time, and one connection at a time.
It’s something I have to say is beautiful. No one told me I would be doing it this way,
that my heart and soul would be so involved in touching those around me. Sure, I was told I would be an ambassador
between America and Japan. But no one
told me how truly a part of it all you become.
I can only call it beautiful, that singular second of realization.
It makes every pained moment very much worth it.
So Rotary is molding me, changing me, teaching me. It’s building up the person I was in America,
making me into someone a little smarter, a little wiser, and putting my faith
back into humanity. I’m changing the
people around me, their views of Americans and international relations. I’m touching them and in return I am being
taught about their world.
Rotary, you amaze me sometimes.
I’m taking so much from this, I feel like I’m overfull and
my seams are ready to burst. But I’m
just so happy about it, it’s a good feeling.
It’s a feeling that I’m making a difference. So this is the middle of my Rotary saga, I’ve
nearly hit the halfway mark here. What
else is to come? As they say, only time
can tell.
Mata chikaiuchini
また近いうちに
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