It’s a Very Large World, After All

One of my least favorite phrases? “It’s a small world.” It is not a small world. Not in the slightest. Sure, there are funny coincidences that happen. (One of my personal favorites happened to be in college when I, having had a few drinks and thereby thinking that a city-wide coincidence could, in fact be possible, asked my new neighbor “Oh, you’re from Atlanta! Do you know [insert girl's name]?” His reply: “Did Carl put you up to this?” “No,” I said, “I went to high school with her for two years.” Turns out she was his ex-girlfriend and things had not ended well.) But what this story underscores is that these are small circles that we are living in. And there are hundreds and thousands of such circles in the world. Most of us limit ourselves to only a few.

Travel from Istanbul to Bangkok and you’ll find many of the same ingredients available and used– red chilis, cumin, tumeric, and fresh vegetables like eggplant and tomatoes. Sure there are plenty of ingredients that differ, but regardless with many of the same components the two cultures have come up with radically different cuisines, both excellent in their own way. Meat? Dogs are pets, dogs are food, cows are revered, cows are food, pigs are dirty, pigs are food, and the eye of the fish is a delicacy. To me it is utterly astounding that a firm belief about the way things are or should be done can be turned upsidedown in another place. What about art? Contrast the curved heads of the nagas (dragons) in Laos with the intricate patterns of Islamic art. Society? Certain tribes in Laos and China are female dominated and pre-marital sex is practical rather than taboo.

Is it a small world? What about history? For every completely unique place in the world, which are numberless, there’s a history going back generations with its cast of characters, struggles, and ways of doing things. The fact that no place is static exponentially increases the number of different experiences it is possible to have had in this world of ours. And like the differences today, there were hundreds of different problems to solve for which people came up with hundreds of different solutions.

To say the world is small, is, in my opinion, to stay safe. It is to deny that the world is a large and scary place where concepts get challenged and perspectives are shifted. Nothing is stable outside the small circles. To say the world is small is to ignore the fact that our connections with other people are often limited to other people who have had an experience similar to our own. True, people can have more than one circle, which is why it is possible to have a six-degrees-of-separation connection with someone from Botswana. But I’m assuming that the majority of these connections are made by certain individuals who have moved outside of their original circles for jobs, education, adventure or love.

In my opinion, the more circles we have, the better. The better chance we have of understanding ourselves (our own beliefs, fears, and reactions), other people (vital for business and politics), and this crazy huge planet we all call home.

 

Why I Travel

It struck me in Rome’s Fumicino Airport, waiting for a flight to Istanbul. Two days before I had been in Florence, gettting up close with Florence’s famed Duomo’s (catherdral) famed dome, the largest in the world until Minnesota’s Superdome came along. When the dome was contructed, it signaled medieval Europe’s step into the Renaissance– a new era had begun of incredible artistic, architechtural, and other achievements. Only one day earlier, I had undertaken a whirlwind tour of Rome, including the Pantheon, another dome so impressive that the Germanic invaders of the Western Roman Empire left the building intact. And with only a four-hour flight, I would soon be in Istanbul, home of Hagia Sofia, once the most important building in all of Christendom. It too boasts a huge dome that appears to be floating, constructed almost 1000 years before Florence’s Duomo. To be able to see all three domes within the span of days is mind-boggling. For me, this sequence captures why I love to travel.

Travel provides the opportunity to visually learn. And I find that rather than moving through history in a compartmentalized fashion, it helps create both the visual sticking points (like domes) and the connections (Roman Empire to Byzantine Empire to Renaissance) that effective learning requires.

Actions speak louder than words and this truism holds for education as well. Travel is, I believe, the epitome of education-in-action. Not only does it provide visual sticking points, but being constantly bombarded with culture and history raises more questions than reading a page in a book (what are the differences between Hinduism and Buddhism and was there any connection between the Khmers who built Angkor Wat and the Chams in Vietnam?).

Of course, it is very easy to travel on vacation, even to a very foreign country, and still not learn a thing. The kind of travel that rewards the brain requires a little help. On Koh Pagngan, the island in Thailand that is renowned for its crazy full-moon parties, the main vacationer town is little more than a piece of land covered in shops and restaurants catering to the visitors (which often means a whole lot of bangers and mash) and cafes playing the latest movie releases. I’m sure it’s a delightful place to relax– but even more so is the herbal sauna at the wat between the port and the town. It was my first Southeast Asian herbal sauna experience and as I learned over the next month in Thailand and Laos, they are a common part of the culture and many women go there on a regular basis.

To travel is to see and experience history and cultures– the biggest and best social studies classroom in the world. So, if you’re looking to escape the cold weather, may I suggest taking a gander at new (warm!) country and seeing what you learn?

This is not the end! There should be at least one more post coming…

 

The Poppy Appeal

All around London people are wearing little paper poppies on their lapels.  At first I thought it was a British version of the Red Hat Society, but soon learned that it is part of the Poppy Appeal, a drive to raise money for UK war veterans.  Coinciding with Veterans’ Day in the US is Armistice Day in the UK.  While just as in the US, the day has morphed from remembering those who lost their lives in WWI to those who lost their lives in all wars in which the country has fought, here the feeling of loss and remembrance permeates society much more deeply.

Throughout the city architectural incongruities indicate scars of WWII.  Pre-war buildings cover much of parts of the city, to be interrupted by the occasional modern building– a sure sign that the building that had been there previously had been bombed.  Other parts of the city center are totally all new buildings, often indicating much more widespread damage.

World War II feels much closer here and the losses from war much more visible.  The contrast between the way remembrance days are observed in the US and the UK reminds me that living a war is much different than observing it from thousands of miles away.