Everybody should travel abroad and see how the other half lives
Everybody should travel abroad and see how the other half lives
Ranting and Raving with Tyler Waugh
There is something refreshing and reassuring to know that Alliance MP Rob Merrifield, a social and fiscal conservative by trade, had such a personally profound trip to East Africa.
It is far too easy to classify people as conservative or liberal, without really understanding the humanity in everyone.
A trip to the Third World would be beneficial to anybody, regardless of political stripes. I know there have been a few people I’ve met that could use an educational field trip abroad.
For two months in the summer of 1998 I taught in The Gambia, which is tiny enough to make Nova Scotia seem colossal and poor enough to make Newfoundland seem like The Vatican.
I dealt with spiders the size of small dogs and power that would quit inexplicably for almost a week at a time.
But what a summer of personal growth. Initially stunned by the abject poverty -- families living in huts the size of most bathrooms and children playing on piles of neighbourhood refuse -- I came to realize that there was a simple joy in African life. It was a joy I have yet to replicate since my return to Canada.
There are three conclusions I made after living and working in a Third World country:
1. I will never complain about paying taxes again. Never. Ever.
2. As much as I admire the simple life, I just couldn’t handle the uncertainty.
3. Everybody should travel abroad and experience life outside of the hotels, bed and breakfasts or resorts.
Say what you want about President John F. Kennedy as a leader, a politician, or as a person, but he understood the importance of this last point.
One of the finest things he did during his short time in the White House was establish the Peace Corps.
"I am convinced," he said in a 1960 address, "that our men and women, dedicated to freedom, are able to be missionaries, not only for freedom and peace, but to join in a worldwide struggle against poverty and disease and ignorance."
His words are lofty and may border on the naive. Keep in mind, though, that the ‘free world’ was in the midst of a public relations war with a communist movement led by the Soviet Union.
The Peace Corps has helped place thousands of young American volunteers in places like Africa, Asia and parts of South America.
One can only hope that these people have returned, as Merrifield has, with a new perspective.
Eye opening?
You bet. But only for those who have the opportunity to take a closer look.
And then only for those who, when presented with that opportunity, choose to take a closer look.
