Blaine Experiences the World
The world is seen from a different view for Morngingside professor Patrick Blaine. Blaine’s world experiences have changed his way of thinking while expanding his palette of knowledge. He left the United States to explore a world far different from his own, but in the meantime, the world changed the United States.
Blaine found other countries to be more outgoing than the United States. A simple tap on the shoulder is a uncomfortable in the U.S, but it seen as a sign of closeness in other cultures. He met his wife while living in Chile but he found that close personal values followed him from one culture to another.
He did find that while racism can sometimes divide Americans, classism is the root of separation in other nations. People define themselves and others by the class that they are in. Another problem that he experienced involved Art and film, in which he majors. The world created by Chilean dictatorship offered little for the artistic mind.
While Blaine experienced the world, he had no idea that his home would change. On September 11, 2001 and the years prior, Patrick Blaine was living in Chile. The events of that day put the American Embassy into chaos, but he also noticed the people in his new home to be in a state of shock, just as those in his home country.
He returned to United States with his new bride in 2003 and he found another foreign country. The land and name were still the same, but the politics of the United States had changed greatly. He found a heightened state of security an obligatory sense of patriotism that had not existed at the turn of the century.
“They finally did it,” Blaine would say of the attacks. His knowledge of the Middle East and other countries gave him perspective to see the possibility of such terror. He recognized the flipping American positions in the Middle East would end with an attack on American soil. This perspective did not soothe his feeling for his country. The day of the attacks he abandoned his healthy lifestyle for a cigarette and a few shots of whiskey. This low feeling lasted during the days following the attacks.
Attacks and family have not stopped Blaine from traveling. He has visited dozens of different countries and picked up pieces of several different languages and cultures. His most memorable experiences involve horseback riding through the Andes in Chile and his college semester in San Sebastian, a name he would choose for his newborn son.
“If you can do it, go,” Blaine says about traveling, “Most people have either the time and no money, or they have no money and no time.” He does hope to get more traveling done in the future when he finds time. He dreams of one day mixing traveling with his hobby of motorcycle riding. He dreams of riding his motorcycle from Alaska to the southern tip of Chile. This is a trip he wishes to bring his own son on.
The beginning traveler will experience culture shock, but Blaine still remembers the day he fell in love with a country other than his home. He was suffering a day long depression from his culture shock. So, he took his board out to the middle of the ocean. HIs world changed while he was lying on his board in the middle of the ocean.
” I got in my wetsuit and stayed on the board all day. I began to feel better. The ocean made me realize not how small I am, but how big the world is.”
I like the middle sentence:
Professor Patrick Blaine’s world experiences have changed his way of thinking while also expanding his palette of knowledge.
Take it from there. Focus on thinking and knowledge.