tribute 2

you asked for it ginger, and it's true (of course) that i have to include the big parents in my great list of tributes. in many ways of course one's parents are the most obvious crafters of an individual's character. who else contributed more to my culmination than those who nurtured me from day one? and i don't want to separate mom and dad into separate tributes, because they do have such a wonderfully strong relationship and work together so brilliantly, that they are very much linked in my estimation.

so as to why they come now* - as i said in my last post, why i went to mozambique in the spring of 2004 with care for life warrants many tributes. but ultimately i can peg it down to mom and dad, to the way they raised me and the rest of us clan. and of course the practical issue of dad's willingness to accompany me all the way to southern africa to ensure my safety - thanks dad :)

i remember mom saying repeatedly, as she drove us to villa park elementary or cerro villa middle school:

orange county is not the real world.

it is perhaps this point of wisdom that stuck with me more than anything else from my childhood. but not only did mom and dad express such truths in words, but allowed all of us kids to see it for ourselves. they never shied away from taking all of their six children to the far reaches of the world, from japan to estonia, egypt to new zealand. it was this exposure from the earliest age which made me conscious of the vast nature of human experience and potential.

without the constant prodding of mom and dad to look beyond our own borders and way of living to those of others, i would not have thought to study and work in africa, or live and attend school in england. they did not want their children to be ignorant, especially in regards to the world around them. from what i saw growing up around me in the OC, few parents have such breadth of wisdom and vision to raise children in such a way. :) i am eternally grateful for mom's interest in egypt, and dad's will to take us all their when i was 15. it was that trip above anything that opened my eyes to the world beyond katella avenue, and instilled a burning (and sometimes obsessive) curiosity in me to engage in that world as much as possible.

dad's most famous phrase, "perspective," is also applicable here: he repeats the word so often, and it's uses are truly innumerable. in this sense perspective can be to see beyond your own self, to see all the others surrounding you and attempt in anyway to understand they are beloved just as much as you, that they are your equal in every sense. what a brilliant perspective to have! we should all work towards it.

so muchos gracias mom and dad, i would of course in no way be who i am without you. love you dearly.

*i can also think of no better time to write a tribute to mom and dad, after my results came out on my exams/dissertation here at oxford. :) mom's constant example of reading in our house, of getting her masters at cal state fullerton, how could any of us not be inspired intellectually in such an environment?