Thought Words

¨Ojos que no ven. Corazon que no siente.¨

¨Eyes that don´t see. Heart that doesn´t feel.¨

It has become my practice, as I walk to the bus stop every morning, to count how many times I get honked or yelled at. So far the highest has been ten times. By the time I get on the bus my American pride is usually seething. What right have THEY to talk to me? To yell at me? To look at me? I´m not here for their enjoyment. Why can´t they just leave me alone? Just because I´m a good six shades lighter than they are doesn´t mean I don´t understand the words they hurl at me. Their advances are unwelcome. And I have learned very quickly to make that explicitely clear through facial expression and body language.

But it´s a funny word, ¨rights.¨

The proverb at the top came up in a discussion in my World Civ. class last night, and it got me thinking. The ten minute walk to the bus stop leaves me perturbed and insulted, internally justified that I shouldn´t be subject to unwanted attention, but once I get on the bus, are my eyes open to the world outside the window? Even the catcalls are a sign of an underlying social...something. I´m here to learn and to absorb. But in the process of that learning, what right have I, especially as a proclaimed member of the body of Christ, to close MY eyes to the world that I am now immersed in, strange as it may be?

This is not to say that I´m ever going to be comfortable with the attention I get in my neighborhood. But perhaps a better solution than running to the CEI - Center for International Education - and asking them what Ecuador´s self defense laws will let me get away with, I should instead ask them to explain to me the cultural undercurrents that determine things like women´s rights here. Perhaps.