Inspiration: We Travel Because People Everywhere Are Wonderful? Of Course Not!

“We travel because people everywhere are wonderful. Always? Of course not. But ask the alert traveler, and she will tell you: as a species, humans are worth the effort of getting to know. As the old Moorish proverb says, “he who does not travel does not know the value of men.”

What about the moments of human exchange? The cab driver in Cairo who grandly, quietly refused payment. That man in Kashgar who took you home to meet the folks. The old fellow you played chess with in Tehran. The ladies in a mountain village who fed you dates and gossiped about men and painted your feet in the local style. The rough truck driver who cradled you like a baby when you had food poisoning in Shigatse. the forbidding looking Pthan man in Peshawar (yes, Peshawar) who suddenly smiled and said, “Welcome to my country, dear sir.”

Again and again, the human encounters are what we remember; they are balm to our souls. If travel teaches us nothing, it teaches us that human are lovely creatures. And we travel because, as an old Zen koan puts, “the whole world is medicine.” Medicine freely offered, medicine we need and have a right to. Medicine that cures us of alienation and the bondage of self-obsession. Medicine that helps us become whole and vibrant , that allows us to see the whole and vibrant world.”

Credit: Geographic Expeditions, San Francisco

Photo: Jaisalmer, India