Table Talk and Thoughts

Today after lunch, I lingered around at the table and talked to Rufi about the food we had ate. I told her that I was going to miss the food that she makes for me every day, because next year I am going to have to make all my own food. She then asked that question that everyone is interested in: What am I going to do after I get back to the States. I think that she was under the impression that this was my last year of school. I informed her that I had one more year of school left and then after that, I am not entirely sure. I tried to convey the idea that I thought it was far enough away that I should not really be too worried about it at the moment, but I threw around some possibilities, like coming back to Salamanca to complete a Master's degree, doing someone similar in the States, or simply finding some work in the U.S. and doing that. I then told her that after this next academic year, that I was going to have to be an adult and start paying my own bills and doing everything for myself. She told me about her own experiences that she went through with her daughter. 

She would start talking to me about it without any prompting on my part. Rufi told me about how her daughter, Zaida, would call her and tell her that she was living in hunger, and so Rufi felt obligated to help her daughter because she did not feel good or right sitting in her own home, eating, while Zaida was living in hunger. I agreed with her and then she talked to me about what we think are necessities and what we think are luxuries, as I mentioned that I understand that there are some things that are absolutely necessary for living while others are merely nice to have. She then began imparting her words of wisdom and said that we think that there are a lot of things that we consider to be necessities but are actually luxuries. Using examples such as how many pairs of pants or shoes one should own, I began to question my own conceptions of necessity and luxury, mainly because she thought that three pairs of pants was sufficient. I think she has a point, as I usually only go through two pairs of pants per week, but it made me feel guilty, or at the very least question my idea of necessity. 

I am still not sure what is a necessity in my life and what is a luxury. I think that there might be differences between what Rufi and I think because of the cultural differences, so I have to take that into account. I think that this is definitely one of the things that I am going to have to really think about and define within the next year or so, as I will be entering full and true adulthood then. This is not going to be an easy process, but I think that I already have a good idea or grasp of what I find to be important and what I think I can live without. But I think that what Rufi talked to me about is something important and something that everyone can relate to and an exercise that everyone ought to perform at some point in their life, hopefully sooner rather than later.

This was a short post, but I think an important one. Maybe in a future post, I will define what I can and cannot live without and what luxuries and necessities are, but do not hold me to that, eh?