kolmapäev, oktoober 27, 2004
Travel Gives Us Global Perspective
The following is all written by Rick Steves:
People care about the world beyond our borders in different ways and for different reasons. My passion for both our planet and the people who call it home is stoked by both my travels and my Christian faith. (I bring up my faith only because so many conservatives claim that God’s in their camp.) We are approaching the election of our lifetime, and as caring citizens, we all need to share ideas and concerns so we get it as right as possible on November 2....
Why don’t I just shut up and write my guidebooks? (As many people tell me — in ALL CAPS.) Three decades of people-filled travel and my personal faith have given me a passion for what I consider “the sanctity of life.” While Conservatives claim to champion this issue, sanctity of life is about more than one issue....
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Travel can help mend a fractured world
By Rick Steves
For many Americans, the critical question in this election season is, "How can we make America safer in the world?"
Call me a girly man, but I think — given the fact that Americans are outnumbered 20 to 1 on this planet — we'd be safer by better understanding our world. A great first step is to travel — thoughtfully....
If Americans traveled more, we'd better understand our place on this complex planet and fit in more comfortably. And eventually, perhaps, we wouldn't need to spend as much as the rest of the world combined on our military to feel safe....
Though many Americans travel, millions more don't venture out to see or experience the world. About 80% of Americans do not hold a passport. Many of those have stubbornly held worldviews based on little more than TV news. Travel gives us a firsthand look at the complexity and struggles of the rest of the world, enabling us to digest news coverage more smartly.
Travel helps us celebrate — rather than fear — diversity....
Travel helps us appreciate the challenges other societies face....
Travel shows us that Americans are the haves in a have-not world. With fewer than 5% of the planet's population, we control 50% of its wealth. We are the global fat cats. In contrast, nearly half of this world's people live on $2 a day.
A traveler who has looked into the eyes of a desperate mother — baby in her arms too weak to flinch at the flies on his face — can better understand how that statistic translates into human suffering.
Travel combats ethnocentrism. I was raised thinking the world is a pyramid with the USA on top and everyone else trying to get there. But as I traveled, I met intelligent people — living in countries nowhere near as rich, free or full of opportunity as America — who wouldn't trade passports with me. They are thankful to be Nepalese, Bulgarian, Turkish or Nicaraguan.
Such cultural snapshots — the essential joy of travel — have made me both thankful to be an American and an enthusiastic citizen of the planet.
Travel gives us a perspective that can translate, through the voting booth, into American policies that will not alienate us from the family of nations. And when that happens, we'll all be truly stronger, safe and better off.
Rick Steves spends four months a year in Europe, writing guidebooks, leading tours and producing a public television series.
People care about the world beyond our borders in different ways and for different reasons. My passion for both our planet and the people who call it home is stoked by both my travels and my Christian faith. (I bring up my faith only because so many conservatives claim that God’s in their camp.) We are approaching the election of our lifetime, and as caring citizens, we all need to share ideas and concerns so we get it as right as possible on November 2....
Why don’t I just shut up and write my guidebooks? (As many people tell me — in ALL CAPS.) Three decades of people-filled travel and my personal faith have given me a passion for what I consider “the sanctity of life.” While Conservatives claim to champion this issue, sanctity of life is about more than one issue....
***********************************
Travel can help mend a fractured world
By Rick Steves
For many Americans, the critical question in this election season is, "How can we make America safer in the world?"
Call me a girly man, but I think — given the fact that Americans are outnumbered 20 to 1 on this planet — we'd be safer by better understanding our world. A great first step is to travel — thoughtfully....
If Americans traveled more, we'd better understand our place on this complex planet and fit in more comfortably. And eventually, perhaps, we wouldn't need to spend as much as the rest of the world combined on our military to feel safe....
Though many Americans travel, millions more don't venture out to see or experience the world. About 80% of Americans do not hold a passport. Many of those have stubbornly held worldviews based on little more than TV news. Travel gives us a firsthand look at the complexity and struggles of the rest of the world, enabling us to digest news coverage more smartly.
Travel helps us celebrate — rather than fear — diversity....
Travel helps us appreciate the challenges other societies face....
Travel shows us that Americans are the haves in a have-not world. With fewer than 5% of the planet's population, we control 50% of its wealth. We are the global fat cats. In contrast, nearly half of this world's people live on $2 a day.
A traveler who has looked into the eyes of a desperate mother — baby in her arms too weak to flinch at the flies on his face — can better understand how that statistic translates into human suffering.
Travel combats ethnocentrism. I was raised thinking the world is a pyramid with the USA on top and everyone else trying to get there. But as I traveled, I met intelligent people — living in countries nowhere near as rich, free or full of opportunity as America — who wouldn't trade passports with me. They are thankful to be Nepalese, Bulgarian, Turkish or Nicaraguan.
Such cultural snapshots — the essential joy of travel — have made me both thankful to be an American and an enthusiastic citizen of the planet.
Travel gives us a perspective that can translate, through the voting booth, into American policies that will not alienate us from the family of nations. And when that happens, we'll all be truly stronger, safe and better off.
Rick Steves spends four months a year in Europe, writing guidebooks, leading tours and producing a public television series.
