Most of us live in houses with running water to take daily showers, electricity to run gadgets that in turn run our social lives and build upon the American ideal of being a homeowner. This consumer life obscures one’s worldly vision and blurs conceptions of reality, encouraging a hierarchical mode of thought, subsequently alienating the world around us even more. What if one was to travel to Africa and see the real struggle for food and clean water? Somewhere between our consumer culture, the want to buy a home and raise a family and all the mindless entertainment we indulge in, we make excuses to remain ignorant. In such a privileged life, it is hard to get the notion of traveling abroad through to most youth, especially in the terms of self-cultivation.
So why travel? Why take time and money to travel to less desirable areas? Because rather than perpetuating our easy and uniform lives, one can experience something new, exciting and previously unknown. By meeting new people, understanding new ideals and seeing new sights, we add so much not only to our human empathy and worldliness, but also our happiness. As philosopher A. C. Grayling says in his book “Thinking of Answers: Questions in the Philosophy of Everyday Life,” “travel expands the mind and spirit, is educative and puts one in touch with new people and ideas. The places that make me happy are great cities with vibrant culture and beautiful countryside.” This world has incredible dimensions in variance of life, and we can very easily capitalize on them.
When I refer to traveling, I do not mean domestic travel at all, rather international travel. To indulge resources into excessive domestic travel is just as if not more harmful than never leaving in the first place. You are simply trading snow for sand, laid back for busy. According to a survey done by CouponsCode4u, 51 percent of Americans have never left the country and 35 percent don’t even own a passport. These percentages are staggering, seeing as a ticket from Los Angeles to New York is the same price as traveling from New York to Columbia, or Mexico, or Jamaica or the Dominican Republic. Those yearly visits to that smelly uncle can easily be traded for yearly visits to new and enriching experiences.
In college, the world is slowly uncovered to young students with the combinations of classes. However, most still seem to take foreign studies just as they are, studies. They read about the wonders of the Amazon or the terrors of Syria in an air-conditioned room. While excited and intrigued by what they read, it seems to never bridge to the desire or even possibility of experiencing such wonders first-hand. Higher education presents the world to students, as it should, yet our American ideals and patriotism hold us back and make us almost sedated. While study abroad programs are growing and provide a fantastic gateway to the wonders of travel, it seems to be in the academic sense of studying a culture rather than living it.
The financial burden most students carry is pronounced in modern-day college life. This proves to be the largest obstacle in expensive overseas travel. In response, I would say the investment in travel is more than an economic choice. The experience, the people you meet, the varied cultures you immerse in and the overall satisfaction of curiosity will prepare you to take on the globalizing world as well as come to understand yourself to a deeper degree in the face of difference. Hence, the use of a summer job’s pay is a matter of perspective. While it could easily go toward relieving debts or buying a car, you must weigh the long-term and short-term benefits of each investment. In terms of overall mental health, empathy and global awareness, cars have little impact. A summer’s work can mean a summer’s travel next year.
The notion of a fully-engaging sensory experience seems lost in the world of fast information. Traveling is the solution. By engulfing ourselves in all new experiences, all senses of our bodies are affected, testing aspects of ourselves we never knew we had. The pungent and overwhelming smell of Indian spice; the sound of the beating African tribal dances; the taste of shark fin soup in China; the dark and mysterious Haitian voodoo culture; these are experiences that would never be cultivated if we continue to lead our uniform, albeit happy, lives.
There are thousands upon thousands of seniors who are ready and willing to give advice, mostly unwanted, to incoming freshman. The tables have now turned as I offer my sole advice, heard or unheard, to outgoing seniors: travel. Life is long and the world is wide. Save money and time for travel. Engage yourself fully in worlds different than your own and you’ll find yourself better equipped to face any challenge the evolving world will bring, as well as with more depth and fullness.
Alex Mohney ([email protected]) is a freshman majoring in economics and intending to major in philosophy.
