The effect of travel

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”

From Mark Twain’s Innocents Abroad, this quote brings me to American election time (just over 2 weeks and counting, people). Voters could be categorised in many ways: Pro-life, pro-choice, big government, small government, environmental, not-so-environmental, Democratic, Republican – but what I find interesting is that this quote splits our population, in a way, also. I could guess we could almost split the population into foreign travellers and non-foreign travellers and see fairly distinct voting lines. Why is this? because something about travelling makes you view the world differently. Something about travelling connects you to another part of the world. Something about travelling enables you to empathise with people - and this knowledge, empathy and compassion impacts our vote. Sure, not all of us go off the beaten path, not all of us have the ability to work in developing countries, not all of us find ourselves in the most remote villages of the world. I would argue that even vacation in a popular destination – Rome, London, Paris - can teach us about the world – can reduce our prejudice and narrow-mindedness.

When we are able to do this, we can see our place in the world a little better. We can see our appreciation for the country which we call our home. I’ve never loved America as much as when I’ve lived away, but my frustration with America has also grown since I’ve been away. I see how blessed our country is – for many reasons, including the hardwork of it’s founding fathers and everyday citizens but how we are becoming self-centered in so many ways. I see how Americans are becoming concerned and consumed with the price of gas, border security and the falling stock market despite the fact that people are dying from starvation, women are raped, children are orphaned and governments are cheating their own people out of funding and good governance in countries around the world.

As the election approaches, let’s research. Let’s look at views on policy, diplomacy – things that will bring the world together, not policy that separates our country from all others and despite the looming recession, let’s set priorities. Let’s put a value on travel as Mark Twain has. Surely travel trumps a new plasma TV, a new boat and an upgrade to an SUV.