AES210 Travel Opens the Mind

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. 

It liberates the vandal to travel––you never saw a bigoted, opinionated, stubborn, narrow-minded, self-conceited, almighty mean man in your life but he had stuck in one place since he was born and thought God made the world and dyspepsia and bile for his especial comfort and satisfaction.

-Mark Twain-

Most narrow-minded, ignorant and hateful people live in a very closed-off community. They spend their life with the same kind of people, in the same old environment, spouting the same kind of beliefs, being taught from a young age that anyone different than them is a bad person who shouldn’t be trusted. This lack of perspective for the outside world leads them down a dark path all the way until adulthood, where they might have children and start the vicious cycle all over again. 

People fear what they don’t understand. Seeing other cultures, beliefs, skin colors, and the hundreds of other things that make humanity unique can be a shock to someone who’s never been exposed to it in their life. It might make them feel scared, threatened or challenged, and all of these negative emotions can make them lash out with hurtful words and even sometimes violence.  

The cure for all of these is learning and accepting that the diverse human experience is our greatest strength, not our weakness. Everyone is different, and that’s what makes this world an interesting place. We can learn a lot from one another through our differences, building each other up instead of tearing ourselves apart. 

To do this, we have to expose ourselves to the greater human experience by traveling and meeting new amazing people. Learning about different cultures and beliefs and ways of life, for each and every single one has something important to teach us. By doing this, you yourself is becoming a more complete, kind-hearted and open minded human being.