I explained to my mom that upon graduation I will be making a journey to Malaysia for a reunion of sorts with my old roommates, whom she has known for the last 5 years. In fact, this roommate has been working in Malaysia for the last 7ish months. This is her forwarding of an email she received as her reply to me wanting to go to Malaysia:
Hi Nancy- (my mom)
I have not been to Malaysia - not a whole lot of garment manufacturing there. Do have to say that I have heard, while beautiful, not entirely a safe place to travel to.It doesn't matter who sent this, as I've never heard my mom mention this person to me. Ever. Which means this person obviously means a lot to my mom. And because of such a strong connection with this anonymous person, my mom must have decided this person's opinion on a country they've never visited mattered way more than a person whom she has known for five plus years and is actually LIVING in Malaysia.
I'm not posting this to say my mom is stupid; she's not. It's just that sometimes I get overwhelmed by her non-stop, instantaneous fear of the world (world being anywhere not named Random Lake).
And this conversation reminds me of a previous conversation:
Me - Mom, I'm going to Venezuela for 10 days for an AIESEC conference.
Mom - You can't go to Venezuela. I heard it's very dangerous there and with the war and everything, you really shouldn't be traveling outside the US.
Me - Mom, it's not near Iraq.
Mom - Are you sure?
Me - Yes, Mom. Venezuela is not near Iraq. AIESEC wouldn't host a conference in a place that is not safe.
Mom - Well, ok then. But be careful.
The day before I leave:
NEWS BULLETIN: Riots in the downtown streets of Caracas(the capital of Venezuela) after Chavez declared himself the winner of an election in which 99% of the people voted for him. The CIA issues a strong warning against traveling to Venezuela in the immediate future.Mom - Have fun and be sure to take a lot of pictures!
Me - Will do. (And then I hopped on the plane and created many a story; none involving riots)
Now in the second case, my mom
could have had a very valid reason/fear for not wanting me to travel to Venezuela. After all, being caught in a riot isn't very fun. But her fear was from the overarching fear-of-the-world being broadcast over the television and in the newspapers. This fear is rooted in no fact, only more fear. And this is the kind of fear I'd like to see diminished, especially when it's being passed on by an anonymous informant of an anonymous informant who has no direct knowledge of what they're talking about. I also tend to block out these nonsensical fears, which sometimes makes me miss the real ones.
I believe this reply made me more upset than usual after reading
Mix's post about the insane assumptions being made about Barack Obama and Islam.
