Now, more than ever…
The deep and lasting advantages of international travel, especially when experienced by students, are impossible to overstate. We’ve all heard of most of these very compelling benefits, among the hundreds being that overseas travel increases cultural sensitivity, it helps young people to better understand and adapt to the concept of globalization, takes people out of their comfort zones, and teaches resiliency in the face of the real every day challenges which any travel experience is sure to provide. This is not what today’s blog is all about.
Today we want to talk about a new threat to young people and how an international travel experience can be a perfect antidote to this new challenge. Today, most people, adults and students alike, through no fault of their own, live in what are commonly referred to as reality bubbles. We hang with people like us, work or go to school with people like us and have most of our conversations with people like us with whom we usually share similar worldviews.
Anyone who follows the news today knows that an equal number of people in our country and throughout the entire world have very different opinions about most things that are of importance to us. With their highly regimented lives, most young people can avoid having contact with these “others” and never feel obliged to look at life through a different lense or someone else’s point of view. Dialog seems to be a lost art.
Every day on a trip to a foreign country, young travelers will encounter people who are very different from them, culturally, linguistically and sometimes even in physical appearance. Once the initial awkwardness of these distinctions is circumvented, travelers are bound to realize that superficial differences do not make for essentially different people. We’re all just the same basic people but with different ideas, opinions, customs and languages. The unavoidable conclusion will often follow that fundamentally we are all the same in the most important ways that define our humanity, and international travel can wake young people up to this somewhat heartening reality. This realization will be decisive if we are to continue to live and get along together on an ever-shrinking planet. Perhaps we might even rediscover that lost art of dialog. And possibly begin to routinely feel some empathy for others.
In today’s hyper-polarized world, this is a lesson we all need learn, now more than ever.