Why we do the things we do.

Now that many should be caught up by reading the never-ending post about my travels, I will now write just to write. This is going to be more of my journal of thoughts, but no so personal of course.

The other day my boyfriend Daniel and I made a trip to Amsterdam. Living in the town of Bergen op Zoom, this was like venturing from a mountain-top village to the over-populated city. Although Amsterdam fulfilled the authenticity of Europe with its architecture, the city contained much more out of this world aspects that even I could not fathom. The red light district, which we took a quick walk through, did serve to be as immoral and by United States standards had more illegal substances (legally) for sale and in windows than a club in NYC. Not that I would know otherwise, but that is the best analogy I could think of. It was as insane as you could imagine and I thought I was filming a documentary for the craziest places to visit in flesh. Overwhelmed and slightly amused we needed to get back to out mountain-top village and see the beauty of life through simplicity and that we did.

This brings me to think of all the people who hold such stereotypical and narrow views of the way other people live. Generalizations are engrained to us as children and we believe some forever, and others we adjust through experiences. Walking through Amsterdam I saw people of all emotions just as I would see anywhere else. Couples, children, groups of friends, and tourists. To those that were residents I am sure life isn't weird, but normal. So why was I to judge their lifestyle? I am perfectly fine in my own and maybe they are too.

Too many times throughout our lives we have disagreements and arguments with people based on factors that our out of our control. People may travel to Amsterdam and love it and many hate it leaving them to judge and put their nose in the air. The best thing about it is that you can have your own opinion. The worst thing about it is to go about telling others what they should do or how they should feel. Its like a breakup. Friends offer advice, but at the end of the day the one person who has to get through it only has them self, their emotions, and their life to live. Its okay to form an opinion, but how are we going about influencing others? Are we judging to make ourselves feel better than the guy next to us, or are we wanting to make people good people based on our standards? I have no idea; and that is something to think about.