Olivia Bidaurreta
Scholarship
Essay
The essay prompt given was
‘How has the Basque Cultural Center enriched your life as an American
Basque?’ While I could spend pages
depicting how specific events and people involved with the Basque Cultural
Center have enriched my life; I find that there is a much simpler yet more
meaningful answer. And that answer lies
within the fact that the Basque Cultural Center has acted as a teacher to me;
obviously portraying lessons of the old country and its history. Yet there are two major, interrelated
lessons taught unknowingly by the Basque Cultural Center that have truly
enhanced my existence.
The first lesson can be
found within the prompt itself. One
might ask how I could possibly extract part of my answer from the question. However, it was the prompt that made me
realize that the Basque Cultural Center has enriched and enhanced my life by
teaching me that I can be Basque as well as American. This important lesson has shown me that I need not choose between
being Basque and being American, but that allowing characteristics of both
cultures to simultaneously exist within me will make me a more well rounded and
interesting person.
The Basque Cultural Center
has taught me this through simply existing and allowing Basques to come
together. The fact that people are able
to join together freely, demonstrated to me the significance and greatness of
America. And the fact that Basques come
together to proudly celebrate their common heritage conveyed to me just how
beautiful the Basque Culture is. This
enlightenment has augmented my life in that it has aided me on my path to self
discovery and in the creative process of cultivating a unique identity.
The first lesson regarding
the fact that a person does not need to choose between heritages leads into the
second lesson. The second lesson, while
less specific nonetheless contains monumental value and has equally improved my
subsistence. The second lesson that the
Basque Cultural Center has instructed me in revolves around the idea that one’s
life should not merely be one dimensional but a complex and abstract painting
full to the brim with vibrant colors and intense implications and meaning.
The Basque Cultural Center
furthered this lesson by slowly portraying how one must achieve such a
life. It taught me that one must
embrace the heritage which runs through her veins and wholly understand said
heritage in order to attain this goal of an abstract existence. It taught me this lesson in again merely
existing. I say this because in my
numerous trips to the Basque Cultural Center I have often observed many of the
other Basques. And this aided me in
understanding how one must embrace the Basque heritage. I saw it in the tear that slowly rolled down
a man’s cheek as one of Xalbador’s famous bertsus resonated throughout the
ballroom through the voices of children, and in the revered silence of a Basque
mass, and in the way a group of Basques would sit around the table and fill the
room with the magnificent songs of so long ago. These simple actions were all indirect occurrences due to the
Basque Cultural Center and because of its existence these occurrences were able
to positively impact my life and show me exactly how I need to love and embrace
the Basque Culture.
Embracing the Basque
heritage through the Basque Cultural Center was even portrayed by my
father. As I continue to grow I watch
my father dedicate hundreds of hours to keeping the Basque Culture alive. His sincere dedication and unremitting
support has shown me the importance of the Basque culture, and instilled within
me the qualities of perseverance and ardor.
If it had not been for the
Basque Cultural Center much of my childhood would be entirely different and
many of my wondrous memories of the Basque Cultural Center would be
non-existent. However, more importantly
if it had not been for the Basque Cultural Center, the lessons might not have
been passed onto me so intensely. Because
of the Basque Cultural Center and its imperative lessons I have been able to
better understand who I am and who I wish to be. It has helped me greatly in discovering aspects of myself that
would most likely have remained hidden otherwise. The Basque Cultural Center itself and the lessons it has taught
have enriched my life by being a constant reminder that one is given certain
elements and with these elements one must piece together a unique existence
while always keeping in mind who she is and where she comes from.