ways in which i feel superior to others
- i don't care about having the latest things (technology and such) and am proud of having had things for a long time
- i don't compare myself to others in terms of flashy material possessions OR like having been to some expensive hotel and i actually feel sorry for people who feel sorry for themselves for not having things or who base their self-worth on that type of stuff
- this one is actually bad but i feel superior in terms of having lived in many places and having been to many places because it makes me feel like i have a "broader perspective on life"
- i'm not addicted to caffeine and i don't rely on alcohol to "relax" -- i take my anxiety like a boss
- i can take it rough (staying in the jungle; living on a boat)
lmao i don't know i think it's actually mostly just 1-3
4-5 are just me trying to say 2 more things to get up to 5. i feel good about myself on those things but i don't look down on people for it...maybe like i feel sorry for them a little though
i feel bad about #3
upon reflection, it's not that i categorically feel superior to someone just because they've been to less places than me.
i do not at all feel superior to the tribe people i met, because even though the majority of them have never been anywhere, i feel they have a worldview/philosophy that is wholesome and wise
and some of the people i feel superior to in this regard have been to perhaps more countries than i have (or the same amount) but who have learned surprisingly little about "life" in my eyes
or they remain stubbornly closed-minded...but insist that they know a lot
they frustrate me and i find them actually quite repulsive...
i was so pleased to be shown a different image of muslim people than one i had been fed to believe and i was so excited to share what i had learned about muslim views on ethical animal treatment with T and she responded in that stereotypical condescending way (almost as though she'd been brainwashed by US media) and said passive aggressively "if only they would treat women as well as they treat animals"
it just annoyed me so much that it's impossible for her to acknowledge that she could agree with them on something, purely because she had an overall prejudice against them and has decided to be black and white on the matter
you can agree with someone on something and not agree with them on something else
plus i find what she said about their views on women to be unfair and ignorant.
i'm not saying i know conclusively how they view women and i know that some of them are violent toward women BUT i don't know enough -- and i think neither does she -- about the world to make any condemning judgment on this matter
and my intuition about it, based on reading and talking to muslim people in indonesia, is that -- at least indonesian muslims or select indonesian muslims -- have a respect for women that not even people in the west have
i read for example, that muslim children are taught to never lie to their mothers. that it's super forbidden.
and i heard a muslim boy talk about his mom with the utmost affection. as soon as he mentioned her, his whole energy shifted and softened as he said "i love it when my mom cooks" as if it were his greatest luck to get to food made by her
those are limited experiences, sure, but they tell a different story than one we'd been taught in the west to believe
and it makes me angry that there are people who would choose to believe in the worst with a mental rigidity that prevents them from entertaining the possibility that they could be wrong.
upon further reflection, i need to take an even broader view and stop fixating on things i don't like about people even though it is frustrating, to be a human being and to have so little in common with other human beings, to feel alone in one's joys and pains.