I recently returned from a wonderful trip to Vietnam. I sampled, and became a fan of many new kinds of food. (In fact, I’m still looking for a great Vietnamese restaurant in central Connecticut.) I also learned a great deal about the Vietnamese people and their history. I have never met kinder, more gracious, and welcoming people anywhere I have traveled. It was an amazing trip, even if it did mean flying for twenty-two hours, with a three-hour layover between flights.
Many people often enquire why I like to travel to such far-away exotic countries. It’s because I believe that experiencing new cultures and meeting new people broadens my horizons and exposes me to new ways of thinking about the world we live in.
Last month, after returning from Vietnam, I was reading the “Hartford Courant” one day when I came across an article by Rick Steves, an American travel author. Rick travels a lot more than I do, and I thoroughly enjoy reading of his journeys to places I’ve both been to and would like to explore. In his article, he responded to the question I have mentioned, “Why do you like travel?”
I don’t have the article, so I’m going to paraphrase it (with apologies to Mr. Steves) because I believe he said it best. He responded that he loved to travel because it took him out of his comfort zone. By doing so, he was compelled to temporarily abandon all his preconceived North American notions. The issues that absorb us in our day-to-day lives here fade into the background when we place ourselves in another culture. Suddenly, we are part of an alternate set of issues, concerns, and preconceptions. We come to realize that we are all stuck on this planet together, in this space of time, attempting to share resources, solve or create problems, deal with one another face to face for the time we share here together.
I traveled halfway around the world to remind myself that my problems, our problems, are the same as everyone else’s on this planet, which is merely a speck in a vast universe. I reaffirmed that people generally share the same hopes, dreams and values no matter where they live or by whom they are governed. Christ’s great commandment to love one another as we love ourselves is universal; it knows no creed, nationality, or genetic heritage. It is a tenet in all great religions in one form or another. For me, it’s good to be reminded of that every now and then.
In Christ,
Pastor Sharon