Perspective

  • December 22, 2006

How can we claim to know so much about a world of which we've seen so little?

Countries I've visited (4% of the total):

And that's not quite fair, since I've been to one small part of many of those places.

U.S. States I can remember going to (60% of the total):

How about you? (And please, if you are an acquaintance and want to correct me on any of these, please do - my memory isn't so good for the U.S. States in particular.)

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December 22nd, 2006
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Gravatar:
Written by:
Bobbie Garner
Posted on:
January 7, 2007 at 12:39 am

I recently relocated to Richmond, IN and ran across your site on WayNet.org. I find your postings interesting and ended up here on your "travel" map. My personal map looks a lot like yours. I have traveled a good portion of the US and have "briefly" landed in France and Switzerland. I say briefly as I was there for business and had little time to soak in the local culture.

But if you were to update your map with another color - Red being "physically landed there" and blue being "crossed paths with the culture" I would think your map would be a little less gray :0) In my business I have regular contact with S.Korea, Japan, Australia, Italy, Germany and many others - if you take a deep look - you will be surprised at the tidbits you pick up. Business etiquette, dress, lingo, etc.. all lend a little to global learnings.

Have you read the book "The World Is Flat" - fascinating read and a must for any business man/women or any consumer for that matter.

Keep up the blogs - good to find intelligent life out there!

Gravatar:
Written by:
anna lisa gross
Posted on:
January 19, 2007 at 8:47 pm

it's such a recent phenomenon to be able to travel across oceans at all, or even a native country as large as the united states. i went to high school with a man who left his home state for the first time our senior year, mostly due to his parent's poverty and lack of perceived reason for travel.
i worked with youth in belfast who had never left their neighborhood. that's right, never left a 15 by 15 block neighborhood, thanks to poverty and sectarian fear. i don't know that any of these people are necessarily at an inherent disadvantage when it comes to building relationships or understanding diversity. i also know a lot of people who have been privileged enough to travel around the world, and are still ignorant and/or uncaring.
just because many of us can travel doesn't mean we should. i wonder what we lose when we have brief encounters (especially the touristy, consumerist sort) with other cultures and places. culture isn't (or shouldn't be) a commodity, and countries shouldn't be thought of as potential points to score.
we are faced with completely new obstacles and challenges in our increasingly globalized world. but most of the world is affected by globalization without having the ability to travel around the world to explore new places and meet new people. what responsibility does that give us?
i really like to travel and will continue to do so, but i want to be incredibly conscious of why, how and where i do this. i want to value what i will gain or learn from the cultures and people i meet. i want to offer them something in return, without assuming they want or need anything i bring.
i feel like i'm just on the brink of exploring these ideas, and hope some others out there are interested in doing that too.