Why Travel?
I honestly don't understand people who don't like travelling. I just don't get it. In my opinion, there are very few things we can invest in that are greater, more beneficial, and more life changing. It puts a spin on how we view ourselves, the world, and our place in it. It makes us feel tiny, true. There are so many millions of human beings on this planet, and only one of them is us. It's altogether humbling. Yet, when I first fell in love with exploring and experienced this phenomenon, as I was shocked into the realization that the world doesn't revolve around me or my family or my culture, I had never felt more at home in this world. Moreover, I had never felt, with such intensity, that I could make a difference in it.
It's almost backwards. The bigger you realize the world is, the smaller it seems, and the more important you feel. And I don't mean important in an arrogant way. We are important, and with any luck, are told we are as we grow up. We are important because of Who our Creator is, and how He feels when He looks at us. We are important because of the millions and millions of people on earth, He died for us. And there is nothing to shock your system with that reality like visiting another country, reveling in another culture, and realizing that He loves every single person on the planet. It's easy to imagine that when you stay where you are, surrounded by family, very similar to you, and friends, even more similar to you. Of course God loves them. They are just like you! But go to a third-world country, where people are fighting just to feed their families, where children are selling goods at the border to bring home anything to their parents, where bodies are being sold, humiliated, sacrificed, just to be able to survive. God loves them. And He loves you. It's hard to imagine Him loving everyone the same, but that's what He does. And it's beautiful. And the more places you go, the more beautiful the world becomes.
I do understand the sacrifice travel presents. For most Americans it is pretty much all financial. Seeing the world can cost you. A lot. It can take years to save for, months of paychecks gone, and no new car in the garage, no giant TV hanging on the wall, no extra-luxurious new couch to lounge on for hours watching shows about people travelling the globe. It is expensive. You have to pay for it. And it's one of the only things you can buy that will make you richer, no questions asked.
I'm probably treading on dangerous ground here. But this is something I feel like many people should realize: America isn't the greatest country in the world! I'm not saying that I'm not patriotic, and I'm not saying I am. I love this country so much. I love the freedom we have here, the amazing, vastly varying landscapes, the I honestly wouldn't mind the government that bad if it was properly functioning. I love it because it's my home, where God chose to place me. But I in no way feel like it's the best. I don't think there is a best in all of time and history. The golden age of the US was filled with prejudice and hatred towards certain people, but no country has a clean, perfect history. The world is broken by sin. But I feel like it's hard to see and understand when viewed through the lens of American patriotism, the idea that our country outdoes every other one. Not until another place captures your heart, the people of another culture love on you when you're feeling homesick, and welcome you in. It's that moment when you understand that the world is so small, that we are all alike and in this together, searching for love and acceptance and meaning. You don't need to own a car to understand these things. You don't need to have a roof to sleep under or eat three meals a day or speak a certain language or wear certain clothes to long for love. And that is what's at the basis of what makes us human, and it's something that, for me, developed in understanding only after I had experienced the beauty that makes the world.
Travel. Grow in experiences that can only be found on the open road, in the insecure moments of spontaneity. They are the things that connect us to one another, and the memories that are cherished to the end of our lives.
It's almost backwards. The bigger you realize the world is, the smaller it seems, and the more important you feel. And I don't mean important in an arrogant way. We are important, and with any luck, are told we are as we grow up. We are important because of Who our Creator is, and how He feels when He looks at us. We are important because of the millions and millions of people on earth, He died for us. And there is nothing to shock your system with that reality like visiting another country, reveling in another culture, and realizing that He loves every single person on the planet. It's easy to imagine that when you stay where you are, surrounded by family, very similar to you, and friends, even more similar to you. Of course God loves them. They are just like you! But go to a third-world country, where people are fighting just to feed their families, where children are selling goods at the border to bring home anything to their parents, where bodies are being sold, humiliated, sacrificed, just to be able to survive. God loves them. And He loves you. It's hard to imagine Him loving everyone the same, but that's what He does. And it's beautiful. And the more places you go, the more beautiful the world becomes.
I do understand the sacrifice travel presents. For most Americans it is pretty much all financial. Seeing the world can cost you. A lot. It can take years to save for, months of paychecks gone, and no new car in the garage, no giant TV hanging on the wall, no extra-luxurious new couch to lounge on for hours watching shows about people travelling the globe. It is expensive. You have to pay for it. And it's one of the only things you can buy that will make you richer, no questions asked.
I'm probably treading on dangerous ground here. But this is something I feel like many people should realize: America isn't the greatest country in the world! I'm not saying that I'm not patriotic, and I'm not saying I am. I love this country so much. I love the freedom we have here, the amazing, vastly varying landscapes, the I honestly wouldn't mind the government that bad if it was properly functioning. I love it because it's my home, where God chose to place me. But I in no way feel like it's the best. I don't think there is a best in all of time and history. The golden age of the US was filled with prejudice and hatred towards certain people, but no country has a clean, perfect history. The world is broken by sin. But I feel like it's hard to see and understand when viewed through the lens of American patriotism, the idea that our country outdoes every other one. Not until another place captures your heart, the people of another culture love on you when you're feeling homesick, and welcome you in. It's that moment when you understand that the world is so small, that we are all alike and in this together, searching for love and acceptance and meaning. You don't need to own a car to understand these things. You don't need to have a roof to sleep under or eat three meals a day or speak a certain language or wear certain clothes to long for love. And that is what's at the basis of what makes us human, and it's something that, for me, developed in understanding only after I had experienced the beauty that makes the world.
Travel. Grow in experiences that can only be found on the open road, in the insecure moments of spontaneity. They are the things that connect us to one another, and the memories that are cherished to the end of our lives.
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