I read recently that only 20% of Americans have a passport. If this is so, then four out of every five Americans do not consider travel to another country as part of their lives. In other countries such as China and India, that percentage must surely be lower. I'm willing to let people live the way they want, and I understand that for many of them the outside world is a cold hostile place. However it saddens me when I consider how much such people miss. When asked, they may say they are afraid of meeting different people, that it might be dangerous, that they might get sick from the food, that they have all they need right where they are. They will continue to stay at home where it is safe and dull. I guess I am a born adventurer, but I think that the human race has gone as far as it has because some of us are curious. We want to know what is over the hill. We delight in meeting people who live differently than we do, but who may also give us some clues on how to live better. Over that hill, there are foods we haven't tasted, dances we haven't danced and sights we haven't seen.
Bolivia RPCV Larry J. Pitman writes: Out Into the Cold
Out Into the Cold
by
Larry J. Pitman
We can live every day of our lives and, sadly, not know anything much different.
This thought was stimulated when I read recently that only 20% of Americans have a passport. If this is so, then four out of every five Americans do not consider travel to another country as part of their lives. In other countries such as China and India, that percentage must surely be lower.
I'm willing to let people live the way they want, and I understand that for many of them the outside world is a cold hostile place. However it saddens me when I consider how much such people miss. When asked, they may say they are afraid of meeting different people, that it might be dangerous, that they might get sick from the food, that they have all they need right where they are. They will continue to stay at home where it is safe and dull.
I guess I am a born adventurer, but I think that the human race has gone as far as it has because some of us are curious. We want to know what is over the hill. We delight in meeting people who live differently than we do, but who may also give us some clues on how to live better. Over that hill, there are foods we haven't tasted, dances we haven't danced and sights we haven't seen.
What is all this ranting on my part about?
I teach at the Universidad del Pacifico in Lima, and I try my best to get my students to take opportunities to go somewhere else for a brief time and learn. You can imagine how delighted I was recently because three of my students participated in a Rotary Exchange Program that took them for one month to Dallas- Ft.Worth, Texas.
When something like this happens, I am intrigued by the before and after effect. It is hard for those learning English in Lima to become really fluent in the language. There are few places for advanced students to practice. So even though these three had worked hard at learning the language here, they could advance only to a certain level.
The special treat for me was when the three students invited me to dinner to tell me about their adventures on their return. What I noticed immediately, of course, was the dramatic change in their fluency. One month of intense exposure to the English language worked wonders. So their English flowed smoothly as they told me about the wonderful time they had visiting Texas.
What I also noticed was that they were describing new experiences, new insights, and even some things that they had never thought of before. Their faces were alight with enthusiasm and the joy of recounting all that had happened to them in such a short time.
I thought to myself, this experience has changed them, and they will reflect on it the rest of their lives.
I myself had a similar experience, living for two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bolivia. That was a real jump out into the cold for me. I know, however, that if I understand anything of the human condition, much of it started when I went out into the cold with that experience. I found out it wasn't cold and hostile at all. In fact it was, in retrospect, a warm and enriching experience.
I'm so glad that my students did the same. They went out into the cold.
