going back in time, my reflection

I've been reflecting a lot about India lately. They told me it would happen. Sometimes about six months later it suddenly hits you and you start to see how it changed you. So much to my relief, i guess. I thought something was wrong. Now I see that i can so easily break down the walls of this box. Or maybe (to be more anthropological about it) I can see through my imagined community. I'm not as limited as i thought i was, and it is... such a relief. While I know that the world holds horrors, there is a softer side to it that isn't quite as scary as I sometimes think. When you tie yourself in a box, you cannot move, you cannot breath. So let your limits fall away and feel safe again.
Anyone who knows me very well also knows that I like dogs. No, i love dogs. maybe even like them more than most people, haha. This little guy has a sweet face. I couldn't touch him though, and that kills me. I know someone who breeds dogs and sells them for $800. They cannot go to just any home, people have to apply for the dog; it is almost like the adoption of a human child. What a luxury it is to even begin to treat an animal like that. I really don't like that any living creature has to suffer (OKAY, yes i know it is extreme but, I even have quite the guilt complex about loving to eat meat. It's just so good... I have no resolve...) but, they would not live in such bad conditions if it were not for the terrible conditions the people live in.
This man let me take a picture of him and i gave him a rose. He smiled in that way that you know there was that special kind of Hindu appreciation, that small connection you have for a moment in a large universe. He pulls a rickshaw all day on his own two bare feet. I doubt that he even complains about it. Another family on that street lived next to a garbage dump and had a starving skinny naked baby. Their problems don't make my problems disappear, but i can't think of them the same way anymore. If i do, then I missed an important part of that days lesson. That these images stay with me the rest of my life, i feel fortunate that i'm over here, seeing it from this perspective.

Pictures

Sooo, these are a few HK pictures. the one of the boats- if you look at the mountain in the background, it looks like the whole side of it has been scraped off.
And I put my hand on the same place that Jackie Chan put his. We are practically best friends, now.
Across the bay, hong kong island of hong kong. kinda like NY NY, Hawaii hawaii, because once isn't enough.