Matt W Cook

I was wandering around in the bowels of my hard drive and I found this neat little document I made when I was still living in Pakistan. It’s worth a few chuckles, at least.

Things I’ve learned from living in Pakistan:
• Traveler’s diarrhea is a temporary affliction.
• Urdu language books and Urdu speakers do not necessarily agree.
• Gvaar, tinday and bindi are not cities in Asia, but vegetables.
• Malaria is a perfect weight-loss system.
• America is a bad, bad place.
• ‘Original DVD Version’ means some guy with a video camera filmed the movie while sitting in front of his buddy’s TV.
• Ceiling fans are your best friend.
• Water filters are your best friend.
• Goat is one of the tastiest meats on the market.
• Buffalo milk is ten times better and ten times cheaper than cow.
• 25 people can easily fit in a 10-person van.
• The skim that comes to the top of milk when you boil it is actually rather tasty.
• The words ‘Only to be sold with a prescription’ is more like a guideline than an actual rule.
• Everyone in the world is exactly the same, they just do different things.

I also want to add something that may not have been obvious to me when I first wrote this. Pakistan is a good place. It really is a good, nice place.

“But wait, Matt, isn’t it full of dirt and crap and violence and Tatooine-level heat?” Yeah, it is.

“And doesn’t it have a slew of horrible problems like poverty, terrorism and rampant ignorance?” Yep, sure does.

“What about the high crime rate and social injustices and political corruption?” Yes, Pakistan has more than it’s fair share of all that.

But it’s a good place. And I love it. I love it so much that I get angry when I see the problems it is forced to endure. I love it so much that I’d be willing to rock the boat to see those problems solved. So I’m going to move back there and do my part, whatever that part may be. Because I love it.

Do you love anything so much that you’d be willing to hurt it to make it better?