Monday night I went with a group of students to see a movie. As usual, I didn't know what movie we were seeing, and my student, who speaks impeccable English, temporarily lost the ability to translate a title. See, she knows i HATE scary movies, so I could safely assume it was a movie I wasn't going to be too excited about. I just made her promise me it wasn't the latest Saw movie or any other horror thing that was out there. Well, it ended up being the new Jodi Foster movie, I think it's called The Brave One. I had no idea what it was about, but, historically, her movies are usually out there and scary. I informed Anna I would be covering my eyes and ears...a lot...possibly even a scream or two. I'm the biggest wuss ever in scary movies!!
Well, the movie was pretty darn scary, but more than that, it was intense and graphic. As I was sitting there watching, I thought to myself, "America is a scary and dangerous place! I'm not sure I want to go back there." Yes, I know it's a movie, but stuff like that happens. Maybe not exactly like that, but it happens. It seems things like that don't happen here...at all. Why is that? Why is it so different here than at home? What makes people here so different from people at home?
Living in a different country for the past 10 months has been a pretty big eye opener. I really feel safe here in Prague. Safe to do things I would NEVER do in America. For instance, I can walk home by myself day or night and feel pretty safe. I would never think of doing that at home. I never really thought America was any more violent a place than any other country. In fact, compared to the craziness in the Middle East or North Africa, I thought we were pretty safe. Living here has showed me a whole new world. My Czech students have often asked me if the stories they here are true...people murdering, raping, beating each other. At first I was surprised by this question. I assumed that stuff happens everywhere. But, I've learned that things like that don't necessarily happen everywhere...at least not in the Czech Republic. And in the few times they do happen, people are just in complete and total shock. I think I had become use to, and ,therefore, desensitized to violence. Don't get me wrong, I'm always sad and feel for the people involved, but a couple minutes later you move on...to the next gruesome story in the news. I just find it odd and perplexing how people can be so similar yet so different.
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