Sunday, April 03, 2005

If this is Tuesday, it must be Prince Albert

Well, the house will begin to shrink in a few moments. Both girls will be returning home from their travels.


I'm glad they are able to travel. Yes, one's been only an hour away, but she's been staying on her own and trying out life by herself. That's always a cool taste of freedom. Life, on your own, in a bigger city...


The other one took a bigger, more expensive jump and headed right down to California for ten days. (I should add that she paid for it herself). It's a big step for her as it's usually not her thing to put herself out there on a limb. But this was a relatively safe limb, so off she went.


It has been my experience that travel changes a person.


It broadens ones perspective and experience. It allows you to see life from different angles, angles that you had never thought possible before.


Traveling to places where the language or culture is different forces you to think about who you are and what your culture is about. Then you are ready to really experience the other culture.


It forces you to develop a level of independence that perhaps you had not known before. You need to be deliberate at the things you do every day. Purchasing a chocolate bar in another language, with weird money forces you to think, and not just let life pass by.


Travel also opens you to options. You could do this or that, live here or there, the possibilities seem endless.


Yesterday Lauralea and I sat in a cafe and we talked about so many people who have never set foot beyond Prince Albert, or at least Saskatchewan. For many of them they really don't know what's out there. So, if they wish at all, they wish for the unknown. As a result, many of them won't ever leave the city heading to greener pastures. For some of them the "Greener Pastures" are to be feared and rejected. Nothing to be perused or looked forward to.


When I traveled, I discovered people who had the same spiritual roots as I had, yet their cultures were very different than mine. I learned that culture and things of the spirit were not necessarily the same. This discovery was so important for me in terms of personal growth. It clarified things for me in a way that remains to this day.


No, traveling is one thing I encourage people to try whenever they have the chance. It changes you, makes you a better person. If you need an excuse, it's a good investment in yourself.


So it will be interesting to see how these two change this year. What with all the travel that they have been doing and will be doing.


Interesting indeed.

4 comments:

  1. I agree wholeheartedly. Mind you, the last but one country Ben traveled independently to had a coup about 2 weeks ago. He keeps protesting innocence, of course.



    But he was certainly changed by the experience, and came back a little 'greater' than he went. Likewise I've been very grateful for having travelled so much with work. The hard bit is seeing one's natural prejudices broken down (or sometimes reinforced!) but it's a great thing to overcome. Lets hope they're both the richer for it.

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  2. I agree too. Sometimes all you need is to see the world and how others live to really appreciate what you have back at "home".

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  3. Interesting entry title. Is it a pop-culture reference?

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  4. Yeah, it was a vague reference to some travel movie made in the 70's or 60's.



    This might be it.



    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064471/

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