Love conquers all.: SWITZERLAND!

4^th Stop: Lucerne, Ticino, Baar, Brugg, Au, Zurich, SWITZERLAND

-to visit Marita, Claudia

Rhine Falls: waterfall not better than the Niagara

The gem of Europe, the diamond in the rough, paradise on earth, -Switzerland, a country where the nature doesn’t stop taking your breath away. Mountains, lakes, waterfalls, rivers, forests, and endless beauty that is simply indescribable to the human eye. From the moment I arrived, this country definitely lived up to all my expectations, and surpassed it without doubt.

My journey seems to always begin by meeting someone interesting and this time around it wasn’t a Buddhist, or Muslim, but this time was an Agnostic. I was sharing with him about certain problems of the world regarding our environment. He was Irish, but lives in England, and we were discussing about how a country as wealthy as England is very non- eco-friendly. I was quite taken by not even seeing a bin for compost. But for him, he actually told me how he implemented a system at his work to have recycled materials divided, and promoted an eco-friendly environment. Even though he was telling me how difficult it is to be the “one” that starts, and brings about change.

Being the “one,” that goes against the current of everyone else, or the society around us, is always quite difficult as we can’t bear the judgements of others, or we care too much of what others will think or perceive of us. I shared with him that being that “one person,” bringing a new idea, bringing about a change in the world around us is not always easy, but nothing in life really is easy, or else we would never grow, never be better. We just have to act, to spread our message through our life, through our actions.

Since he was in business, we started discussing about the economy and its problems. I told him about this idea of a new economy, a culture not of “having” but of giving. This culture of giving is the main principle of the Economy of Communion, a branch of the Focolare Movement, where profits are divided into 3 thirds, one to the workers’ salaries, one to the development and improvement of the business, and the last third to the less fortunate to either find work, better their environment, or provide for their necessities. This “new” economy of which 1000 businesses takes part in, is something small, something idealistic, something new. But everything does start from small, Facebook just started from a computer game that Mark Zuckerberg created, but now if it was a country would have the 3^th most habitants. Isn’t that crazy that 1 in 9 people have Facebook. Even though when I was explaining this idea of a new economy, he commented saying, “it sounds too religious.” Since I realized he was Agnostic and was against the Church, I just tried my best to listen with an open mind and heart just trying to see him through his point of view and not mine. In the end he said to me, “So what’s that thing you were talking about...-the Economy of Communion.” So even though we had different views because each person is unique and different, he actually tried also to understand what I had said. Universal brotherhood, unity in the world is not by making each person the same, that’s communism, but it is treating each person as a brother and sister, respected and loved as part of a human family.

the view of Lake Lucerne from our table as we chatted

So later I met up with my friend who I hadn’t seen in 5 years, she came to Canada for an exchange. We just sat infront of Lake Lucerne, nature’s beauty, and talked for hours. Seemed like nothing had changed because friendships that aren’t built on superficial things, but built on love remain, stamped, and marked in your heart.

Next day we headed the southern region of Switzerland called Ticino, Italian-speaking! We headed on top of a mountain where only sheeps, mountains, waterfalls, and rivers exist, and hardly any existence of people. It felt like going back 40 years in time. We visited her uncle where we gathered the grass without machines, but MANUALLY by a rake. For breakfast we ate home-made bread, lunch we ate home-made dried tomatoes. We shaved the fur off these look-alike llamas, but called Alapakas. We slept in complete darkness at 9pm because there were no streetlights. We washed dishes with one dim light and I could barely see if they were clean. It was like living back in time, but so simple.

Me and Marita raking grass to the Alps and
to the sounds of the waterfall

Life can be so simple, sometimes we freak out when the electricity suddenly goes out, or we don’t have internet for a few days, or we forgot to bring our cellphone charger. We don’t really take the time to appreciate how much we have, and these things just don’t seem to satisfy. Society is filled with desires, wants, surplus of needs, and consumes our minds.

But it was actually such a beautiful experience to work out in the sun for 4 hours, raking the grass manually, eating the basic foods, home-grown and home-made. Can we ever live life with our needs, instead of desiring always for more?

with Marita's uncle and aunt where we stayed at Ticino

Because the people that drink away their life, smoke to get high, or party so hard they forget what happened, find temporary happiness, find nothing by instant satisfaction, and are left with nothing after, nothing that remains, nothing that really satisfies that hole in their heart. But life is built for so much more, built to be simple, built to be valued, built to be treasured, and how often do we say thank you for all the things we have to the people we love. Life is built to live for something greater, to bring a change, to make a difference. But it is so simple, bring the love to whoever that is infront of you in each present moment in each day. “Do to others as you would do to yourself.”

PIZZA :) i made for the first time

And with my friend’s family, I felt like it was my family, her parents were like my own. Her mom was literally like my mother, helped me with my dirty clothes, left food and water on the side of my bed, made sure I was never hungry, cooked the most amazing food, listened to my experiences, and the list goes on. Her father would pull out the weeds after his work, just like mine. When we needed him to pick us up when we were stranded at a train station, late at night we came to pick us up without hesitation, and joked around whenever he could, listened to me with such attention. That’s what I call love, love that is without measure, that doesn’t expect anything in return, that gives everything, love that is free.

Marita's Mom

Marita's Dad

In the end with such gratitude and appreciation, I made my first PIZZA for them, one with mushrooms onions and tomatos, and one with pineapple and ham. Little acts we do for love because in life we can only do small acts with great love as Mother Teresa says.