Dropping In

Surrender
Trust
Gratitude
Patience
Forgiveness

I sometimes wonder what kind of person I would have become if my parents hadn't left Israel with me when I was 3. Or if they hadn't left France with my sister and me when I was 7. If I had grown up into an adult elsewhere, instead of Northern California. Would I speak the same language - use words like "process" and "progressive?" Do people in Israel and France see therapists in quite the same way as we do here? Do they work with alternative practitioners when they are challenged physically? Would I have a homeopath in Israel? I know in France people trust homeopaths as much as they do regular doctors.

What would it have been like to grow up in Israel, and go through military service at 17? Strange...

What would it have been like to go to school in France, and take the baccalaureate to graduate, something I think must be a lot more difficult than the SAT?

What would it have been like to grow up receiving American culture indirectly, not watching Family Ties or Different Strokes religiously? Dave and I sat down once and took turns remembering what was on TV each night on each station back in 1985, between 3pm and 11pm. Did Israeli or French kids watch TV like that back in the 80s, or were they too busy studying or fighting?

I don't know how I got on this tangent. I was just thinking about those five words up top, in awe at how much a part of my daily vocabulary they are. Wondering if I would think the same way, use the same language to express myself if I hadn't grown up here. Sometimes I wonder how much is me - inherently - and how I am a product of my upbringing and the circumstances of my life. Nature or nurture - or a little of both? Probably both.

Am I who I am because of the actions and choices my parents have made, or in spite of these actions and choices? Probably both.

I guess it's about:

Surrender,
Trust,
Gratitude,
Patience, and
Forgiveness.