There are so many things I didn't really understand about this region of the world and one of the beautiful things about this week is that it is now coming into focus.
One of the "aha's" during my learning was the point that each country in this region is so very different for a variety of reasons: political, economic, geographic, religious, ethnic, linguistic, and historical. There are some commonalities, but the influences aren't of the same mix for different countries and places. Most of the region has an ancient influence from India and also an influence from China to varying degrees. They also have influences from ancient kingdoms that existed at various times. Some are Buddhist, some are Muslim, some are Christian, some are Hindu, all have their own flavor of the religions. There are many historical tensions from the past that don't necessarily meet up with today's borders. They have governments that range from democratic to communist to military dictatorship and even a monarchy. There are tens of thousands of islands and peninsulas and mountains and volcanoes and jungles and rivers great and small. There are at least three different, unrelated, language families.
The beautiful thing is when they somehow get along and understand each other. Hopefully in our everyday lives, even though we are so very different from each other and different experiences and families, we can figure out a way to get along and communicate. We can begin to understand others when we first try to "get acquainted" and to understand them and their experiences.
