Over the past few months, there have been a lot of things that have inspired me to write, to blog, or just to post lengthy Facebook statuses (the most elegant of mediums)- but not many of them have found their way to completion, not many of them have actually been published.
Maybe that's due to my own disjointed thought process- that I'm not sure where I'm going with them. Maybe it's because I'm been busy (passionately, crazily) with school. Maybe it's because it's Thailand, and having a plan, or finishing something is just a foreign idea (finals are next week for my school, but they still haven't decided when summer break will start. Maybe the next Monday, maybe the following Wednesday... we will see. Probably won't know until the night before.)
Maybe it's just a lot of excuses.
Regardless, I have an account full of drafts that may or may not find their way to completion. Through them all, however, I keep coming back to the same idea : the goodness in people all across the world.
That is something worth traveling for. That is something worth experiencing. In the news, in gossip, in day to day life, we hear all about the horrors waiting to beset you once you leave the comfort of your own home. Terrorism, disease, theft, violence, corruption, people waiting to trick you or cheat you.
And it is incredibly valuable to be aware of those threats, to take precaution, to be smart about your actions and behavior. But that isn't everything. That isn't what you find on the road.
There are horrible people in the world. There are dangerous situations, there are threats, there is war, and hunger, oppression and discrimination.
But there is also an incredible power of good. Of small actions, minor gestures, shows of hospitality, shy curiosities, consideration, love, care and concern- often for complete strangers.
Everywhere that I've traveled, I have been amazed by the goodness in people.
A priest in Guatemala who only spoke Italian, but drove my friend and me 5 hours to a hospital, because he understood that we needed it.
A series of security guards in Istanbul speaking Turkish who guided me through the airport, the visa process, and the lost and found- and the random stranger who had found my purse in the airport, and turned it into the lost and found rather than stealing it.
A bus full of Brazilians in Rio who asked my friends and I where we were headed, gave us directions in Portuguese for how to do so safely, made the bus driver stop and cheered and clapped as we went on our way.
The Thai train conductors and strangers who talk to me at every station, making sure I get on the right train and off at the proper stop.
My host mother in Brazil, and all of the other host families who take in strangers and introduce them to local culture, welcome them and make them at home.
A lady I met in an elevator who noticed my dress was ripped, and safety-pinned and double-sided taped it back together.
My landlord/mother here in Ayutthaya, who made me lemon ginger tea when I lost my voice and translates and watches out for us.
These moments and thousands of others- brief interactions or lasting relationships, those friends and loved ones you know you can count on or the stranger who surprises you with benevolence- make the world worth traveling. Make people worth getting to know.
Before going to Guatemala, Brazil, and Thailand, I heard all about the dangers of them, the negative aspects and the risks. But through actually going to them, experiencing them, connecting with the people... you find the good. You find the happiness. The hope. The reality.
There's a Jack Johnson song that I've listened to a bit lately, titled "Good People". It asks, "where'd all the good people go?" and goes on to describe the lack of them on tv.... but as catchy as the song is, it's a bit misleading.
Good people haven't gone anywhere, they are everywhere. I would even go so far as to say that most people are inherently good. We can find negativity in interactions or through negative situations and circumstances, but by really getting to "conhecer" a person, understand them and respect them, see their perspective... you can find their goodness. With most generalizations, there are exceptions. I can't see "good" in a beheading, genocide, or many other horrors... but on a smaller scale, finding the "good" is what makes the world worth traveling, what makes life worth living.
Finding the goodness gives me patience to deal with the kid who pooped under my desk. It gives me curiosity to engage in conversation with a coworker who has largely aggravated me. It gives me ambition and excitedness to find the good, to embrace it.
It's not a denial of the negativity, nor an ignorance of it. It's an active choice to value what is important, to nourish that seed of opportunity, to encourage similar behavior. But it is a choice. What will you look for?
 |
| Pi Ot, our lovely landlord/mother |
Maybe it's just a lot of excuses.
Regardless, I have an account full of drafts that may or may not find their way to completion. Through them all, however, I keep coming back to the same idea : the goodness in people all across the world.
That is something worth traveling for. That is something worth experiencing. In the news, in gossip, in day to day life, we hear all about the horrors waiting to beset you once you leave the comfort of your own home. Terrorism, disease, theft, violence, corruption, people waiting to trick you or cheat you.
And it is incredibly valuable to be aware of those threats, to take precaution, to be smart about your actions and behavior. But that isn't everything. That isn't what you find on the road.
There are horrible people in the world. There are dangerous situations, there are threats, there is war, and hunger, oppression and discrimination.
But there is also an incredible power of good. Of small actions, minor gestures, shows of hospitality, shy curiosities, consideration, love, care and concern- often for complete strangers.
Everywhere that I've traveled, I have been amazed by the goodness in people.
A priest in Guatemala who only spoke Italian, but drove my friend and me 5 hours to a hospital, because he understood that we needed it.
A series of security guards in Istanbul speaking Turkish who guided me through the airport, the visa process, and the lost and found- and the random stranger who had found my purse in the airport, and turned it into the lost and found rather than stealing it.
 |
| My host mother in Salvador, Aurinha |
The Thai train conductors and strangers who talk to me at every station, making sure I get on the right train and off at the proper stop.
My host mother in Brazil, and all of the other host families who take in strangers and introduce them to local culture, welcome them and make them at home.
A lady I met in an elevator who noticed my dress was ripped, and safety-pinned and double-sided taped it back together.
My landlord/mother here in Ayutthaya, who made me lemon ginger tea when I lost my voice and translates and watches out for us.
These moments and thousands of others- brief interactions or lasting relationships, those friends and loved ones you know you can count on or the stranger who surprises you with benevolence- make the world worth traveling. Make people worth getting to know.
Before going to Guatemala, Brazil, and Thailand, I heard all about the dangers of them, the negative aspects and the risks. But through actually going to them, experiencing them, connecting with the people... you find the good. You find the happiness. The hope. The reality.
There's a Jack Johnson song that I've listened to a bit lately, titled "Good People". It asks, "where'd all the good people go?" and goes on to describe the lack of them on tv.... but as catchy as the song is, it's a bit misleading.
Good people haven't gone anywhere, they are everywhere. I would even go so far as to say that most people are inherently good. We can find negativity in interactions or through negative situations and circumstances, but by really getting to "conhecer" a person, understand them and respect them, see their perspective... you can find their goodness. With most generalizations, there are exceptions. I can't see "good" in a beheading, genocide, or many other horrors... but on a smaller scale, finding the "good" is what makes the world worth traveling, what makes life worth living.
Finding the goodness gives me patience to deal with the kid who pooped under my desk. It gives me curiosity to engage in conversation with a coworker who has largely aggravated me. It gives me ambition and excitedness to find the good, to embrace it.
It's not a denial of the negativity, nor an ignorance of it. It's an active choice to value what is important, to nourish that seed of opportunity, to encourage similar behavior. But it is a choice. What will you look for?
 |
| Some of the "good" I found in Thailand was right away in Hua Hin with these lovely ladies- met up with them again in Phuket |
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