Travel is Overrated

On Facebook the other day, I engaged a friend in a short debate about travel. He thinks it is necessary for becoming a better person. I do not.

Travel certainly could make you a better person, but not because it must. As is so often the case in our human world, so much of self-improvement (perhaps all of it) depends on how willing you are to improve yourself. Travel does not guarantee that attitude.

When praising travel, does it ever occur to the travelers that they are almost always seeing people who are putting their best foot forward because they want something from you? They want your approval for whatever reason, and that reason is generally to get your money. What is there to learn from that which must make you better? Indeed, I think it more likely to make you worse precisely because you're being catered to. Your ego is being stroked.

I think that dealing with home and family and immediate surroundings offers the best chance of improving yourself because you are seeing people as they are and not as they want you to see them. Even this, as I've allowed, cannot make you better without your willing to become better. But it is surely more of a challenge to your person because there is not ready escape. You can walk away from a tourist trap. Leaving your cranky mother behind is not so simple.

Nor should it be. Daily life is where you learn to live well and properly, where you learn to adapt, if you desire to be a better man, woman, or child. If all you desire is seeing new things, well, I suggest that's self indulgence and not self improvement.

Truck stop money

How many of us joke to our friends about how much money they have? It's a common jibe. Well, me Grandpa Joe never teased anyone as such. But he was surprised one day to find out just how much money an unassuming man might have.
A fella he knew from the neighborhood in Detroit, I'll call him Cloyce just to give him a name, had moved out to central Missouri. He sent Joe his address and insisted he visit should he be in the area. Cloyce knew there was a good chance of that, Grandpa liking to travel and all. And of course, one day heading across Missouri Joe did drop in.
Cloyce said that they ought to go have lunch at a local truck stop because the grub was real good for road food. That was okay with Joe, whose culinary tastes were, uh, not particular. And what a truck stop it was: Joe was impressed with the size of the place. It had a huge restaurant and he figured there were several hundred, yes, hundred, trucks parked around as drivers filled their gas tanks and their bellies. Once seated, the old friends ate a greasy meal before Cloyce excused himself apologetically, promising to return soon.
Now say what you want about Joe, he had a considerate streak. As he was intruding upon Cloyce's time he figured he'd cover the tab. Leaving a reasonable tip at the table, he went to the cashier to pay. "You were with Mister Cloyce?" the girl asked.
Joe chuckled, "I never heard him called Mr. Cloyce, but yeah."
"You don't owe nuthin, sir. He said to give you whatever you want; he owns the place."
Some guys have money and just don't show it. And that's probably not a bad idea.

The Bilbo Baggins imperative

I had an interesting conversation with a few friends yesterday concerning what we would like do before we die. You know, what was on our so-called 'bucket lists'. It turns out that mine is rather short, if it exists at all.

I am not a thrill seeker, so hang gliding and parachuting and mountain climbing are way out. Putting myself at risk even in safe activities just for the adrenaline rush just doesn't do anything for me. It honestly strikes me as nonsense. My lone participatory sport, outside of catching and hitting a softball with my granddaughter, is curling. I'm that exciting.

Other than day trips, I do not particularly care to travel either. Simply put, thrills are overrated, folks, and so is travel. You aren't living any better by making your heart race, nor is seeing the world certain to make you appreciate it more. It may, as Chesterton says, make you appreciate it less, for if you've been raised well you know there's no place like home anyway.

Not that there's anything wrong with the things I mention. If you want to see Europe or leap off a cliff with a rubber band tied to your feet, fine. But for me, stuff such as enjoying a conversation with my friends over bucket lists suits me well. A curling match, a day at the ballpark, a good book, being with people; that's what I look forward to.

Call it the Bilbo Baggins outlook. If adventure finds me I might just surprise you, run the risk, and go along with it. Generally, though, as the dear Hobbit believes, adventures only make you late for dinner. If there's something of this Earth better than food and friendship I can't imagine what it is.