Friday January 6, 2023

“What do you like about Youssef?” - A response:

Of the diverse cast members who entered center stage of my Tunisian travel experience, I found Youssef to be among my favorites. Aside from his laid back mannerisms and social interactions, I found that it was also refreshing to interact with someone who wasn’t blatantly looking to gain some sort of social interest or capital.

Many of the people that our group interacted with in Tunisia seemed to be searching for something- some wanted the prestige of knowing Americans, some wanted a pathway to fame, and some even wanted a love interest. To me, Youssef never seemed to want any of these things. At the core of his interactions with us, it seemed that he was just along for the ride. He was there to be helpful and to be our friends in a foreign space.

I found that true friends like these were hard to come by in Tunisia. This certainly isn’t because Tunisians are any less authentic as people (in fact, Tunisians seemed to make up some of the friendliest groups of people I’ve ever interacted with), but rather this is likely the result of just how unprecedented it is to have sheer American privilege in your space. People who saw us might never see another American again in their life. Instead, they might only continue to hear of our luxurious lifestyles online and in popular media sources.

Seeing people want things from me was a reality check. Whether fame or a wife, you never realize what you have until you meet people that lack the commonalities that you have. It took meeting someone like Youssef, who seemed content with not wanting anything at all, for me to realize this. I am grateful.