Independence

To my surprise, I had a common-day event in my activities this morning: I attended a parade in honor of Peru’s Independence Day. This amplifies my theory of the world as I travel and encounter people of every kind and make: people are simply people all over the world. This may seem no profound thought, but it is truer to me now than any other view I have of the world. I have come to find, I am essentially no different than my mysterious counterparts inhabiting faraway lands. We all eat, we all sleep, we all want to succeed, we want to live peacefully, we get frustrated when we don’t, we love, we lose … and we celebrate our country’s Independence proudly each passing year.
In an all too familiar scene, the kids dressed up in the adornments of their forefathers (although Peru’s history possesses a much longer timeline of history to choose from than the United States), donning fake beards and stately top hats, and delivering powerful speeches remembered from the days of their emergence from colonialism. The other toddlers donned the dress of the various indigenous Indians from the many different regions of the country: the Nazcas (famous for the Nazca lines seem from Space – look it up!), those from Lake Titicaca (highest lake in the world!) and, of course, the famous Incans.

They marched down the dirt road as the entire neighborhood eagerly cast their eyes on their prized children, and the few with cameras snapped priceless photos of the memories. The flag was hung, the anthem was sung, and just as the proud Americans did just a month ago, the right arm was raised and placed over the heart in respect to their precious homeland. No matter how much material possession, or depth of knowledge, or individual strength one may have to himself, everyone needs a place to belong – everyone needs a sense of pride in belonging, to something. 

I placed my right arm over my heart as the anthem played as well, as an emblem of my appreciation to the diligently kind and joyful people of Peru.