Oh! The Places You'll Go!
- Aug 2, 2017
- 2 min read
There's 57 million square miles of land on the earth. Of that 57 million, 24,642,757 square miles of it are habitable. All that habitable land is occupied by the peoples of roughly 195 countries (number of countries in the world vary depending on where you look), with thousands of different ethnic groups within them. With all the different geographical beauties, cultures, foods, languages, people, why wouldn't you want to go out and discover them?
In the United States we've lost the art of real hospitality. A large part of this can be attributed to the differences in cold and warm cultures...but whatever happened to offering food and drinks to your guests, whether they were staying for five minutes, five hours, or five days? Now don't get me wrong, there's plenty of people/regions in the states that sill practice good hospitality (the south for one), but as a whole, western cultures seem to have lost the importance of it. Let me tell you, it's a delightful thing to be ushered into a home like a new family member just arrived. It can be a bit awkward to kiss a complete stranger on both cheeks, true enough. But it also feels incredibly accepting, like they're telling you, "you're one of us now."
Some may find it overwhelming and confusing to hear a multitude of languages you've never heard around you. My thoughts? It's beautiful! I could listen to other languages for hours and not get bored. It's lots of fun to have a mini language session with a native speaker, and teach each other your language. Try some simple things like "hello", "goodbye", "how much?", or the numbers one through ten. It can be fun, and educational.
Many countries have animals we would only see in zoos here in the states. You can go to bustling out door markets and get fresh produce, fresh bread, handmade clothing, and who knows what else! You can stand in awe, gazing at amazing architectural feats such as the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids, Petra; the list goes on. There's more to do than can ever be done! More to see than can ever be seen (yes, that was a shameless Disney reference)!
While many things may seem strange, harsh, even uncultured, there is beauty in it, just because it's different. So why not travel and see what you can? I believe Dr. Seuss has a good word about traveling.
"You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go."
~ Dr. Seuss, "Oh, the Places You'll Go!"
So where will you decide to go next?
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