Lucky Me

People who travel are among the most fortunate people on the planet.  Many of them are also the most spoiled and arrogant.  I've written about this a couple of times on this little web of mine, and I feel like doing it again, so here goes...

Travel expands the mind.  But I know too many people for whom it only expands the ego.  It gives them an opportunity to talk about themselves and recite facts and figures of the places they've been and the things they've done that are supposed to make then more interesting people.  Well bully for them. 
I find people talking about the places they've been and the things they've seen really boring.  Names and numbers are a real snore. I prefer to hear about what people think and feel, and what they've observed and learned from their experiences.  If that means telling a tale of something that happened in an exotic location, then by all means do so.  It gives context and substance to a story.  But place and people name-dropping is not storytelling.  Travel should make a person more modest, not pretentious.
There's a journal being sold at the store where I work which declares on the cover that "the world is a like a big book, and those who do not travel read only one page."  How arrogant.  How offensive.  The reason most people don't travel is because their financial and personal circumstances don't allow it.  Sure, there are a few people who can afford it and choose not to, but they're a tiny minority compared to the billions of folks who grow up in scarcity and want, and for whom travel is no more than the stuff of dreams.
Being exposed to the wonder, beauty and diversity of the world is a truly humbling experience.  Relative to All That Is, we seem small and insignificant.  And yet we are still very much a part of all Creation.  We are literally stardust.  Everything and everyone is derived from the same source when time began.  We are in the Universe and the Universe is in us.  We are miracles, each and every one of us.

Travel should open the mind, not clutter it.  Seeing more of this beautiful world ought to make a person broad-minded, spacious, and clear - not full of themselves.  Being rapt is a humbling, beautiful feeling.  A truly humble person recognises who and what they are in the grand scheme of things, and has no problem with the fact that not everything is about them all the time. 
Being able to travel is a gift, and a privilege many people in prosperous countries don't seem to appreciate.  People should  return from their travels feeling grateful and overwhelmed with the grandeur and beauty that is this beautiful earth we share, rather than waiting for a chance to aggrandise themselves.
I try to remember to say grace every time I sit down to eat.  Most of the time I forget, but not when I travel.  I bow my head in humility and gratitude for a brief moment, feeling grateful to be sharing in Nature's bounty.  I feel quiet joy in simply breathing.  And the beauty of that simple act is that I can do it anywhere.  May I never lose sight of the fact that I'm a part of the greatest miracle of all - Life.
- G. P.