Answer to life's questions: Russian and Religion

So earlier this week I was kind of feeling like, what am I doing out here at USC, living in LA, studying public diplomacy? All of my classes seemed to keep coming back to the middle east, to areas I didn't feel as knowledgable in, and as I posted in another blog, I thought--what is a Russian literature undergrad doing in classes on the middle east and media? I had a 12-page paper due on a historical aspect of media and was feeling a little overwhelmed. A friend mentioned that I could write on Desert Storm and President Bush (H.W.). I thought, oh great, another middle east topic (I think the middle east is interesting, if just doesn't happen to be my area of expertise).

I called my mom, my always-there-incredible-source-of-advice mom, and explained what was going on, and how Eastern Europe was my background, but everything always seems to come back to the middle east, this class, my Religion and Conflict class, everything, and that I was feeling like I didn't know why I was here. She said to me, "Of course you should pick a topic you are interested in--do something on Russia. Why don't you write on the fall of the Berlin wall or something? Write about what you want to write about--make this masters work for you. Get what you want out of it." So I decided I would go back and look at different events, pre-9/11. I ended up deciding to write on either the Hungarian Revolt of 1956 or the Berlin wall. The Hungarian Revolt won out (I decided I needed to know more about it and what better way than to research for a paper?). I set off to the library and checked out about seven books.

As I was perusing them on campus, my good friend Paul came over to catch up for a minute. I told him of some of the frustrations I had been dealing with. So glad he came along! He gave me some great advice, really encouraged me to stick with what I love--Russia and religion, and gave me a pep talk. I really appreciated his supportive words. He convinced me I am good at public diplomacy and not to give in to the majority who seem to gravitate to the middle east. So grateful for good friends! Ran into Mike later, who is focusing on Japan, and he basically told me good for you for sticking with eastern Europe--he wasn't giving in to the middle east trend either!

So I wrote my paper on the Hungarian Revolt and really enjoyed it! I am happiest when I am dealing with issues involving Russia and Eastern Europe, and feel great about what I've decided to study!

To top it all off, I think religion finally won out in my Religion and Conflict class! People are finally realizing what an impact it has in international relations. I felt really on my game--I was able to express all of the ideas I wanted and was able to connect religion in with IR theory. The professor even backed me up on quite a few points, which I really appreciated. Using examples from eastern europe, I was able to support my comments and help others to understand why I thought religion played an important role in international relations.

In my earlier talk with Paul, I had told him of some of my frustrations with my religion and conflict class and how people kept saying that religion was for the poor and uneducated. Along with his comments at the time pointing out that that was ridiculous, and that he and I and many of our friends are religious, he sent me the following:

"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell." C.S. Lewis

Well said.