I’ve been in DC a little over a month now. Every time I had come to this city before moving here, I said to myself, “Ah! I want to live here! I love the energy in this city!”. And I’m here. It’s crazy and amazing. I really didn’t know what to expect. New city, new job, a combination of new friends and some old ones, of letting go… And it has been intense, at so many different levels. That’s the word that best describes my experience so far: intense. It feels like it has been more than a month. I have been learning and growing in so many areas of my life, and I’m really thankful for that. It has been soul-stretching. I have used this phrase before, for other things, and it may not be the best description but it is what comes to mind. It has been a month of soul, mind and heart stretching. People, places, and new experiences help you grow, stretch, open your horizons.
The thing that has struck me the most so far is how there are so many cities within a single city; and the many different stories that accompany this fact. Perhaps I have said this previously, and I’m sure I experienced and saw it in other cities I’ve lived in. The diversity, heterogeneity and dynamism of cities are just amazing. There are so many DC’s in DC, as there are in Guatemala, Denver, Delhi and others. So many realities. There are ways to listen to the different stories, to know a little of the different cities within a city; but it’s not easy. It requires effort and openness.
So I want to invite you, wherever you live, to open yourself to exploring those differences. Go to places you wouldn’t normally go. Take whatever precautions or preparation you need, but go and see places within your city that you have never been to, for whatever reason. Question what you have mentally categorized about the place where you live. Labels based on stereotypes, history, the media, or because “it’s too dangerous” or “too dirty” or “too ugly”. I don’t doubt there are places that might be this, but they are not only this. If you really are a curious human being, if you really want to connect with others, if you want to see and better understand the place where you live, you need to go outside your comfort zone. And then you may start to question why those differences exist. Why some places are so far away from everything, so disconnected, so invisible… Why some spaces are filled with resources and others aren’t. Things we take for granted like parks, buses, trees, markets, flowers, bridges, sidewalks, garbage cans. How does this impact you, but specially others, and their present and futures.
I feel privileged because thanks to my work at HIPS, I have seen places in DC that I’m sure people that have lived here for years have never gone to. We work from a harm reduction approach, providing HIV and Hep C testing and counseling, a safe needle exchange program and a safer sex supplies delivery program, primarily for people who use drugs and people who engage in sex work. So I get to go in a van to different places in DC, at day and night, to meet with clients that want the health services we offer. I feel even more privileged and thankful to have met so many amazing people so far, with different journeys, decisions and stories, life lessons and pockets of wisdom. People that make up part of the energy I love so much in this city.
So take a walk, take a different bus route, say hello to a stranger in the train station and ask how their day is going so far. “It’s too far away, I’m too busy, it would be too much…”. Just do it once, at least once. You don’t know what you may find, what you will learn, who you will meet.
Thanks for reading… the Spanish version of this entry and a poem based on this reflection can be found in my personal blog if you are interested. For now, looking forward to what is to come and what this year will bring, with all the stories and cities in this beautiful place.