I Love to Travel and See New Places

I took some time to take the taxi to the shopping district of Batam Island, Indonesia. On the way there, as the taxi was waiting at the traffic lights, and I was catching forty winks, someone tapped on the window and asked if he could sell me some fish crackers. This is definitely not the usual thing to happen on a busy road back in my country. On the way back, a little girl, not more than ten, came and stood outside my taxi window and stared at me to give her some money. It just broke my heart.

As the taxi travels the narrow roads, giving way on the side to many scooters (sometimes with three or four people on them), I take in the sights. I see people eking out a living under the hot sun. This is how the world turns. Money, commerce, tourism, jobs.

A change of perspective is all I need to stop feeling sorry for myself.

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Cierzo · M

This is one of the reasons I have always been wary of travelling to countries poorer than mine, the contradictory feeling that I am more fortunate than locals simply because I was born in a place with better material conditions, and the thought that their lives would be harder without tourism.

It is true sometimes we need to regain perspective. It is easy to focus too much only on the positive or negative side of our lives, and get a blurred vision of them.

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Cierzo · M

@novembermoon I think of you, and a local, and it does not cease to amaze me how your realities and world visions are so different, being only some miles apart geographically. It is amazing what a different social, political, economical background may do. Add them the deep differences among temperaments, even in the some country.

I can only think of human beings as islands, much more different among them that two dogs, two butterflies, two monkeys, or even two animals of different species. The fact that two or more humans can build true binding and fruitful relationships looks like a miracle to me.

novembermoon · 51-55

@Cierzo it is a miracle yes. 😊
Today, I think whatever our circumstances, there is a deep human need to feel safe, needed and loved. Our realities may be different, but I think that need is universal.

Cierzo · M

@novembermoon True. There are basic material and emotional needs that are universal. But even the amount of nurture we need to quench them, and the way we express those needs is quite different.

JustNik · 51-55, F

Some people would travel that path and not be touched by it. I hear of people here who go to Mexico for vacation and don’t leave the resort because they think of the local children as beggars and pickpockets. I love knowing people like you who see their mind and heart. 🙂

Sssslm · F

I always think, if they know their children would suffer, why do people give birth in the 1st place?

Cierzo · M

@Sssslm This is a good question. I think religion has to do with it, and the thought that this is what they are expected to do.

I think of rural Spain a century ago, where living conditions were very hard. Families had a lot of children, knowing that no more than half of them would reach an adult age. Individual lives do not matter much where living circumstances are really hard.

Sssslm · F

@Cierzo thank you, teacher☺

Cierzo · M

@Sssslm 😄

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