Blessed Freedoms

In this country, we are blessed with many freedoms. I think it is wise to remember those freedoms before we complain about what we have and don’t have, can and can’t do, or who is or isn’t in charge. Freedom isn’t dependent on whether or not you’re content with the way things are. I think those concepts get a little confused sometimes.

When my youngest daughter was studying abroad in Peru back in early March, the coronavirus was just making its way across the U.S. I was very nervous about her being in another country anyway, but with an uncontrolled virus situation unfolding quickly I unraveled quickly too. My instincts told me the group should get a flight home a week early, but the university’s travel director assured us they were not in any imminent danger. I didn’t agree, but there was nothing I could do. My daughter would stay. Thankfully she was in a group with her professor, another professor, and a group of students. Thank God she wasn’t alone, or I may be telling a whole different story here.

Just a week after this, a pandemic situation was declared in America. Travel bans were being put in place. I became even more concerned. To make a long and complicated story shorter, the day she was to fly home came and went. More days of scheduled flights out would come and go. The president of Peru decided last minute, while the group was at the airport to ban all travel in and out of the country at midnight. Again, they were not able to leave due to this decision. There was no warning, no backup plan, no help, and chaos at the airport.

They suddenly had to find another hotel, and by this time, their country was in lockdown. This is much different than the “lockdown” my fellow Michiganders we’re describing on their social media. In actual lockdown in Peru, they were confined to their hotel. They could only leave for essentials, and as they left they were stopped sternly by police officers who yelled at them, and if they chose to, would send them back to their hotels, no explanation necessary. My daughter and a friend attempted to get some food at a store nearby and were forced out and into the street by an officer pointing and yelling at them. They were allowed in the store only after they were given permission. Can you imagine this happening in America? Cue the angry Facebook posts now. THIS is what it’s like to be in a country that is not a democracy. The fact that we have been asked and it has been suggested to distance and wear masks and stay home is still a great mark of freedom. People do not understand this unless they’ve never lost their freedoms or they simply don’t think about how other countries are run.

On the day my daughter and her group were finally able to leave, which was two weeks after her intended departure date, things got hairy. Our group and the university’s international  travel director had spent countless hours and money trying to figure out ways to get the group safely home. When efforts seeking help from our own government became fruitless, they found ways to get the kids out and together, which was no easy task. My daughter described that whole experience as exhausting, scary, and confusing. Walking miles with all of her luggage in the rain, sitting on a hot, crowded bus for hours, waiting in a crowded airport, listening for their names to be called out and hoping they all got called or none would fly, waiting under a tarp-covered area in metal chairs while soldiers with big guns and drug-sniffing dogs surrounded and intimidated them for 2 hours as they sat completely still. All of this just to get Americans home from Peru. At one point her big light pink suitcase fell over, and she sat there wondering if she should pick it up. She decided just to leave it. She wondered if the dogs would hit on some beef jerky she had in her carry-on bag. She entertained herself with that for awhile, but truly hoped she wouldn’t get in trouble.

We appreciated the efforts of their Spanish military that traded our Americans for their Peruvians. We appreciated the diligence of her professor and the international travel director at her university who kept us in constant communication and provided all of the extra expenses for the additional time they were there. We appreciated the contact from the few representatives of our state who returned the desperate calls to our group. Most of all, grateful to God who kept them all safe and brought them home healthy and without incident. But no credit will be given to our president who simply said, “they missed their flight. They were late.” Then claimed the military was helping, but in fact they were not called to at that time.

When she finally arrived safely, she was a stronger version of her former self and I was too. She had nothing but wonderful things to say about the people of Peru and the beautiful country. Her experience humbled her to the rights and freedoms she has appreciated as an American. I was proud of her the entire time she was there. She emerged as a leader who kept herself calm and under control, bringing peace to the rest of the group.

Being able to see the differences between where you grew up and how others live is how you expand your thinking and your growth. We can’t continue to grow if our minds stay small and limited to only what we know. Maybe we can’t travel, but we can read and we can learn from others. We can open our minds and accept that maybe we don’t have it so bad after all. Or maybe in some ways we do, so we look and see where we can make a difference.

The world gives us opportunities every day to be a change-maker. We’ve been watching a lot of protests, some rioting, some looting, a lot of political battles. What can we take from all of that? What can we learn? Where can we help? Those are the questions we need to ask ourselves. And always check ourselves at the door. What am I grateful for? Am I being open-minded here? Am I listening more than I’m talking? Do I appreciate where I am and understand that not everyone feels the same as I do? Can I accept others who think differently than me? How can I be a peacemaker right where I am, even when it seems the world is on fire around me?  How can I, just one person, be a positive influence on everyone I meet? Maybe it sounds trite and cliche, but change does begin with us.

It begins at home with your kids, teaching them to appreciate their families, homes, belongings, and extending love and acceptance to ALL people, not just people who look like them, talk like them, worship like them, live like them. It starts when they are small. Because as we’ve been watching, there are some really messed up adults with some really skewed values, morals, and beliefs out there hurting people and in turn, our world.
True freedom starts with us, realizing that we are trapped by our own shortcomings, hate, and refusal to expand our hearts and horizons to include others.

My current “mailbox heart” says it all right now, and the construction barrels are still out there forcing people to slow down so they have to read my signs!