New Kid on the Block (Arrivals...There Goes the Neighborhood)

New Arrivals...hm. Well, honestly speaking, I don't have much experience (thank you, spell check) in that area--the only time I've moved would be 3 days after I was born-- it's late, as you'll find out @ the bottom of this here post, aaand I tend to get a bit...eccentric when I'm tired. Hehe. See if you can follow my train of thought, which most likely will not run on a track.

The first thing I would like to address is the fact that I lived a sort of introverted childhood, neighborhood-wise. I mean, my range of playmates were my siblings and my direct-next-door-neighbors. The people down the lane and across the street were just that. People. (Ah-HA! Idea. Remember that sentence, in case I refer to it again.) I didn't start going out and playing in the front until my other neighbors came and asked for me. They'd ring the doorbell, and we'd spend the day outside.

But that sounds normal. I said so in my introduction: Normal bores me. So, yeah, that specific aspect of my life I wouldn't exactly call exciting. BUT! The matter at hand is what happens when different lives meet, or more dramatically, COLLIDE!! Hehehehehe....Sorry. I got excited.



Let's look at how these things are usually portrayed. Most stories feature the new kid on the block as either the shy, awkward new kid who tries to fit in (and does, in the end--spoiler) or as some secondary character who's cool and awesome and perfect and makes trouble for the original inhabitants of the neighborhood (hence, "there goes the neighborhood"). In the story, there's the Arrival, the Issue, the Conflict, and the Happy Ending. The Arrival is obviously the coming of the new person, the Issue is the only thing standing in the way of a totally normal and thusly uninteresting story line, the Conflict is the fighting--verbal, internal, or physical (I like the mental and physical battles)-- that occurs in order to overcome said Issue, and the Happy Ending is almost always how the story ends, with everything working out perfectly, and whatever was troubling the main character being gone (don't get me wrong; I like happy endings, but getting cheerful, sappy wrap-ups ALL of the time kinda gets old. I like to cry at the end sometimes).

Now, for a reference. Remember how I said in my intro that I like the W.i.t.c.h. series? Well, I'm going there now. In the beginning of W.i.t.c.h., the girl who's destined to become leader of the group moves to the city where everyone else is located (of course, no one knows about anyone yet). Her name's Will, btw. Will has to deal with all of the problems that come with moving: the packing, the unpacking, the getting acquainted with the city, the parent who says everything will be fine because they work in the corporate world and seem to have forgotten the pressure of making friends and such, and the anxiety of fitting-in-slash-not-looking-like-a-total-loser at school. And to top all of that wonderful stress off, Will has a scary bad dream as she and her mom enter the city. She takes it as a bad omen of sorts (that, and the fact that the box holding her books fell open--in a downpour), and does not look forward to her new life. I think it's obvious which of the two characters I was describing above Will is. Anywho, she arrives (late) at school the very next day, and she meets this girl Taranee. They become fast friends as--surprise, surprise-- Taranee is a new girl too. I'll try not to go into too much details, 'cuz I have other plans for this post, but the two become friends and meet the other main characters, and, aside from having to save the world and universe on several occasions, they live out the whole happy-ending thing.

On the flip-side, we have the negative arrival (or positive arrival...it depends on your POV [point of view]), let's say...Christopher Columbus coming to America. For any possible non-American-Lit-classmate-readers, he did NOT discover America, just so you know. There were already people here, referred to by us as Native Americans; called Indians by the confused Columbus, who thought he had landed in India. Now, this will indirectly link back to that sentence up there. The one that I told you to remember. [Up there. It's highlighted.] Back then, in the fifteenth century or so, a lot of people thought the world was flat, and while travelers set sail for trade and such, they never imagined that there would be other lands out there. Not that I blame them. The world's a big place. If not for common teachings and maps, I probably wouldn't know that there were other continents overseas. Agh, I digress (but you were warned). Since the people of Europe had a terribly narrow perspective of the world, they never considered the people on other land. Well, exploitation aside. SO, when Columbus made land here, there was an initial fear (the natives were afraid of these strangers from the sea). But that was soon dispelled, and for a time the Europeans and the Native Americans were on good terms. Back to my sentence. To the Europeans, though, the natives were merely: people. Or beings, really. I picked up an arrogant vibe from Columbus' journal. He had that superiority complex going on, and his ulterior motive was to convert the Native Americans to Christianity and to annex them into the Spanish territory, most likely. Now, I can go on for pages about how I feel about this whole "must be the same, must make people like us" thing countries (humans) had (have), but I'll spare you the eyestrain. Basically, the Europeans kinda butted into the natives' lives. They crashed their party. 


What I'm trying to say is, when two different people or cultures or lives or whatever meet, it usually goes two ways: either it works out like most stories, or there's some sort of fight or conflict that will probably lead to a glorious defeat for one or more sides...Sorry. I'm starting to not make much sense. But I think the situation of new arrivals really comes down to the parties involved: what kind of people they are, and how they want to do things. Then things can become either good or bad. That's all.


Heh. If you made it this far, I commend you. I really don't think I'll be shortening this, so thanks for reading, you brave soul.

"Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."

(Guess  which one I'm not doing.)