A more productive and accurate descritpion on the purging of negative emotions....

Good evening Everyone,

 

Well, just as good energy tends to breed good energy so does negative energy tends to breed negative energy.  This is a lessoned learned long ago but is still hard to remember to put into practice when under stress.  I received an e-mail from an Argentine in response to my earlier posting today about being robbed yet again.  If you are keeping score at home, this is the fourth time Ozell and I have been robbed in the two months we have been traveling.  While I believe the Argentine's post was sincere in stating they hope this does not happen to me again, it was also apparent that my negative energy probably affected him negatively (imagine that!) since he included my pretty vengeful statement of...

 

"They are nothing but low life scum, and I hope their economy collapses like it did in 2001 but only harder and more severely.  I wish they have to eat their dogs in order to feed the hungry mouths of their own litters of babies since they breed like cats in this Catholic country.

 

Fucking despicable people..."

 

Yeah,  that is some pretty harsh shit.  I knew it when I wrote it, and I wanted to write it.  I did not want to censor what I was feeling in that moment which was only a handful of minutes after actually being robbed.  To censor it, would be dishonest.  That is how I felt when I wrote it.  I knew that I would calm down afterwards, but writing it and posting it so other people can relate is part of what helped me get over this latest violation.  However, what I was not considering fully in the heat of the moment was that fact that the travel blog's audience is no longer made up of just our friends and family in the States.  They are in fact some Argentines who now read the blog along with other internationals whom we have met along the way.  Rightfully, the Argentines may be negatively affected when they see that you wish their country's economy would tailspin into collapse (which is a recent memory for them and why it was fresh in my own memory) and that they have to eat the stray dogs that shit all over their sidewalks for food.

 

Below was my personal reply to this said Argentine which includes a much more constructive phrasing that helps purge my negative emotions while at the same time stating why I do not have fond feelings for a significant portion of the people of South America and Buenos Aires in particular.  Most importantly, I wanted to apologize for spreading negative energy to people who did nothing wrong to me by including ill wishes to all of Argentina.  It would have been more truthful and fitting if I limited my vengefulness to just chopping off the hands of those who robbed me instead of the wishing the collapse of the entire Argentine economy.

 

Since, I use the travel blog to write what I feel without censorship, I feel it is appropriate to include this apology and more constructive description of my current opinions also on the blog.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean  :)

***************************************************************************

 

 

Hey X,

 

Thank you for your well wishes...

 

And I want to apologize to you and Y and some of the other very good and respectable Argentines we have met in Cordoba and Rosario.  My last blog post was very angry and vengeful, and I did not mean to take it out on all Argentines.  I know in reality there have only been 2-3 people who have wronged me and violated me as a human.  Obviously that is not all Argentines.  But I needed to begin the process of working through this second robbery in 4 days, and writing my frustrations for my friends at home to see is one way for me to begin to get this bad feeling out of my system.  I am sick of Buenos Aires and will not recommend anyone travel here.   There is no reason for foreigners to come and spend their hard earn money here helping the locals and local economy.  Until the people of BA and South America in general start to crack down and punish these thieves, I have a hard time caring about any hardships they may have.  I am not enlightened enough to just brush the rampant thievery aside.  Do they think I am rich because I am white?  I have very little wealth presently.  Ozell said it best when we got back from the subway today...  "This is why they will always be 3rd and 2nd world countries down here... because too large of a percentage of the population does not believe in hard work or earning their own living."  The girl Michelle who worked in the 24hr bakery right next to the hostel in Rosario told us about the two different types of poor people here.  The hardworking ones who do the best they can legitimately, and then the second group which proudly and without shame resorts to crime to earn their way.  Obviously, America and Europe have plenty of bad people too.   I do not dispute that.  But it does not appear they make up near as large a percentage of the population as they do on this continent of South America.  And we haven't even been to Brazil yet which we have heard is the worst of all for petty crime!

 

I will recommend to everyone back home that they do not travel to South America.  It is not worth it.  Admittedly, the total sum I have been robbed of is now about $500 US.  I will recover from that.  But what hurts more is the act of being robbed-  that has now happened to me 3 times and to Ozell once in two months!  and we are not being stupid.  we have been pretty damn careful since we first were robbed in Lima.  Coming here is not worth that.

 

And the other thing I will tell everybody is that South Americans are bigoted and hypocritical.  They all look down on Bolivians as the poorest and most Indian (indigenous) country on the continent.  They all try to tout their Spanish and European bloodlines while being racist towards the Indians in their own countries and towards the entire country of Bolivia.  They all have bullied Bolivia and beaten down the Bolivians in wars taking their territory and their natural resources.  And people in the States also have this idea that Bolivia is an unsafe and poor country run by drug cartels.  But you know what?...  I felt the absolute safest on this trip when I was in Bolivia.  Yes, it is the poorest country here.  But the people seem to have some fucking ethics and morals.  I'm sure there are bad people there too, but not nearly as many as there appear to be in Peru, Chile, and Argentina.  So while the Peruvians, Chileans, and Argentines all look down their noses at the Bolivians, I have nothing but respect for them.  I saw nothing but the hardest working people I have seen on this trip.  And they are still dirt poor, but they have smiles on their faces.  And they DO NOT STEAL.  It must be the Indian blood in them which the rest of the "white" people on this continent despise so much.  They could really learn some lessons from the Bolivians.  So far it is the only country I have any interest in seeing again, and it is the only country where I would recommend my friends back home come to visit.  Their people have character and integrity despite their hardships.  It is apparent the rest of South America uses their hardships to justify and rationalize stealing from foreigners who they think are better off than them.  Viva Bolivia!

 

So yes, I do not mean to subject all Argentines to my anger and malicious vengeful desire to see this country collapse.  That was written in a very heated moment.  I hope you did not take personal offense.  It was me venting my anger.  But I have had some other Argentines message me and tell me how sorry they are this happened to me and that they are ashamed of their fellow citizens here in Buenos Aires (this has been on online chats not the travel blog).  I thank them, and I know they mean well.  But I tell them, don't feel sorry for me and apologize on behalf of your fellow citizens who wronged me.  How about you fix your country and culture so that this isn't such a big problem and so stealing is not so rampant?  When you have a entire group of your fellow citizens who take pride in being thieves and who actually believe it is noble and something on which to build a sense of community to the point that they have their own fashion and cultural identity (as described by Michelle at the bakery in Rosario), then you have a fucked up part of your citizenry which needs to be confronted and corrected.

 

You know that I know there are plenty of wonderful people in Argentina.  Ozell and I were so fortunate to meet you and Y in *****.  So again, I personally apologize for lumping all Argentines together with my initial rant today.  That was my anger.  I am not "enlightened" enough yet to be free of anger when I feel I have been wronged.  I know I have some more ego busting to do.  I am flawed.  But since I am flawed and human, I hope you can empathize with why it is hard for me to currently have a favorable opinion of the people of Buenos Aires in particular and South America in general when Ozell and I who only had the sincere interest of visiting new places, peoples, and cultures so we could learn about them and their lives have been robbed four times in two months.  That is not a very favorable ratio.

 

I suspect you can empathize with that.

 

You are a fantastic man X.  Thank you for your well wishes that this does not happen to Ozell and me again.  I am sorry if I offended you personally with my angry post.  You and some others were obviously not included in my vengeful fit.  I assure you it has passed.  I have pretty much moved on from this robbery too.  Christians tend to strive for the "Forgive and forget." ideal.  I tend to subscribe more to the Sufi school of thought which is, "Forgive and do not hold judgment, but do not forget."

 

I really miss you and Y right now.  I could use and enjoy your company....

 

Ciao, mi amigo.

 

Sean