Travelling makes the world a better place.
Conflicts often occur due to differences between individuals, groups or populations. We want the world to look like and function in the way that we agree with. If someone challenges these worldviews we may feel like our way of life is under attack. We don’t understand their world views and since they are different, it challenges and potentially threatens our way of life.
But just because a person, group or other population of people live in a different way than what we know and understand does not necessarily mean either way is better or correct. In most cases these differences are just simply different. Often there are pieces within these differences that we can learn from to improve and better our lives.
To understand something in its entirety is a difficult task, but to understand a little bit more than we did prior is something that can be achieved by travelling.
We learn, more or less, in two ways - consuming information and lived experiences. Travelling sits in the later. We are constantly learning from our lived experiences every single day and if we live a life without travelling, then we are limiting our lived experiences to a geographical area. Staying in one place limits your learning opportunities through lived experiences.
Travelling means placing ourselves in strange places, surrounded by strange people, different cultural norms and food that we are not used to. Doing this can often be uncomfortable - although it can also be enjoyable - because doing something different is innately uncomfortable. We are immersing ourselves into a new way of being and by doing so we are learning about different people, groups and populations. We are learning about why a culture does what it does and eats what they eat. Along the way we begin to become closer to understanding these strange people and cultural norms that are different from our own.
The more we learn to understand those who are different from us, the more we admire and appreciate those differences. The more likely we will not resort to unnecessary conflict because we will not feel threatened. Instead we will feel a sense of admiration for others and a willingness to learn from them.
