Protest

The murder of George Floyd, captured on video for the world to see, has sparked protests all over the planet and once again dredged up anger at the old, malingering institutional racism that has been inherent in America since its beginnings. 

TIME TO FIX THIS.  Maybe this generation of young people will.

I overheard this remark: “Do you think if we’re all the same, things are easier?”  Well if we assume that, we are also accepting that things are less interesting, less vibrant and animated, less creative; we always stay within our comfort level and only interact with others that look and think the way we do. This is why travel is so enlightening.  When we’re out of our element, we’re more vulnerable, more reliant on the benevolence of strangers, more open to the world around us.  We look for ways to connect to others; we reach out.  Sometimes we even ask for help. We’re seeing a bit of this in the thousands of small kindnesses found in the peaceful protests that have exploded in our cities.

What we come to realize in the end, sometimes after considerable embarrassment or difficulty, is that we’ve come full circle - that we ARE all the same.  And that’s when the magic happens.  When we accept that, then we can notice and celebrate our differences without so much fear.  We’re drawn together and the surface distinctions fall away.  We become curious instead of afraid.  We become friends instead of strangers.  Anxiety dissipates.  Comparisons cease to matter or become the subjects of laughter and appreciation.  And then we eat and make merry and smile a lot more.  

Travel shows us that there are wonderful, wonderful people all over the world, in every corner! To experience this, with a neighbor or with someone from the other side of the world, is to know that we can never go back again to “easy” or to being afraid of “different”.