Travel, Empathy, and Shared Humanity

While in Vietnam recently, a young woman asked me how many countries I’ve visited. It’s a question I’ve been asked in the past, but it hit differently this time. I felt a pang of guilt at the contrast of our lives just because we were born in two different, random places. As we passed Starbucks, she told me how the average Vietnamese person needs to work an entire day to buy a drink there. Yet here I was, gallivanting to a faraway land with few concerns, the least of which was how long I needed to work to buy something at Starbucks.

By default, people experience new things, new people, and new feelings when they travel. To a certain extent, maintaining that newness means that the number of visited countries needs to keep increasing. Should we feel guilty about that? No, because in many ways, traveling makes us much better people, and that sends positive vibrations back into the world. With each trip, we see how everyone is basically the same, regardless of how they look or what language they speak, and that gives us a soothing feeling of comfort and safety. Maybe more importantly, it is fuel for much-needed empathy in this world.

In my own small life, travel occupies my mind by giving me something to plan, to look forward to, to manage, and to look back on and honor. I cook things I never would’ve cooked before because I experienced them at their origin. I feel gratitude for the people I interacted with and how they were kind to me, a stranger. And when I see pictures of places I’ve been, I feel how it felt to be there. I’m a happier, more fulfilled person because I travel and, hopefully, a better human being.

So go travel. Become a more thoughtful citizen of this world. Cook some things.