Cookie Cutters and a Broken World
Lesson - Worldheart: As travelers, we spend a lot of time sharing stories, tips, lessons and a lot more... and almost always focusing on the positives. This is a good time to go over a lesson from the road that comes with both the bitter and the sweet.
First, let's take the cookie cutter life as an example. You have a job--maybe you have two of 'em, and are still struggling to make ends meet. You have a family, a few friends... some coworkers you like... some coworkers you hate. Maybe you go to church or to temple... and you have neighbors (no matter whether or not you like them). The news comes in of revolutions in the Middle East, and now quakes tearing apart Japan. You care. You do. I see it in how actively people spread messages of how to help and by their actions. But these things are happening to "them". Maybe a few of you are glad it's not happening to "us".
Travelers can't afford that luxury. After even a short time of exploring this planet, you meet too many people that you love and keep in contact with. Just two days ago, a friend's step-mother was being airlifted out of Bahrain. I still haven't heard if she was safely evacuated to America. When quakes tore apart Japan, I was spending the entire day trying to find out who was still standing. One punk from Kobe didn't check in with any of us until midnight. In fact, she's the one who made the song of the day (below).
There is no "them". A Yakuza mob boss, when asked why the Yakuza were patrolling the streets of Japan to stop looting following the quakes, responded: "In times of crisis, there are not Yakuza and civilians or foreigners. There are only human beings and we should help each other."
The cookie cutter life comes with the benefit of a smaller heart, a smaller world and the disassociation that comes with a "them". Worlds outside of that cookie cutter life--such as travelers, musicians, organizers and many others who network globally--come with a cost. You can skip the cost if you don't get too deeply involved with people around the world. That's about the opposite of what travelers are looking for. So the only option is to live with a big heart that is tied to the world, and to live out loud and at all costs with those you love when you are together with them.
Leave no room for regrets.
Song of the Day: [Click to Download]
Digital=Divine - The Passenger (A Cover of Atticus Ross)
"The Passenger (A Cover of Atticus Ross)" by Digital=Divine
First, let's take the cookie cutter life as an example. You have a job--maybe you have two of 'em, and are still struggling to make ends meet. You have a family, a few friends... some coworkers you like... some coworkers you hate. Maybe you go to church or to temple... and you have neighbors (no matter whether or not you like them). The news comes in of revolutions in the Middle East, and now quakes tearing apart Japan. You care. You do. I see it in how actively people spread messages of how to help and by their actions. But these things are happening to "them". Maybe a few of you are glad it's not happening to "us".
Travelers can't afford that luxury. After even a short time of exploring this planet, you meet too many people that you love and keep in contact with. Just two days ago, a friend's step-mother was being airlifted out of Bahrain. I still haven't heard if she was safely evacuated to America. When quakes tore apart Japan, I was spending the entire day trying to find out who was still standing. One punk from Kobe didn't check in with any of us until midnight. In fact, she's the one who made the song of the day (below).
There is no "them". A Yakuza mob boss, when asked why the Yakuza were patrolling the streets of Japan to stop looting following the quakes, responded: "In times of crisis, there are not Yakuza and civilians or foreigners. There are only human beings and we should help each other."
The cookie cutter life comes with the benefit of a smaller heart, a smaller world and the disassociation that comes with a "them". Worlds outside of that cookie cutter life--such as travelers, musicians, organizers and many others who network globally--come with a cost. You can skip the cost if you don't get too deeply involved with people around the world. That's about the opposite of what travelers are looking for. So the only option is to live with a big heart that is tied to the world, and to live out loud and at all costs with those you love when you are together with them.
Leave no room for regrets.
Song of the Day: [Click to Download]
Digital=Divine - The Passenger (A Cover of Atticus Ross)
"The Passenger (A Cover of Atticus Ross)" by Digital=Divine
