By Rick Steves for The Seattle Times
All I was trying to do was share a little happiness from my trip on my Facebook page.
So when someone responded with, “Seems out of place with what’s happening in the news,” it made me think. And my first thought was, “Yes, like Baltimore. And Nepal. And ISIS, and climate change, and a dozen other serious issues.”
When you’re on the road, tuning into the news can be troubling and sobering. It can make a vacation seem trivial and elitist.
But if my years rubbing shoulders with world travelers have taught me anything, it’s this: going abroad doesn’t blind you to the world’s problems; if anything, it makes you more acutely aware of them. Traveling thoughtfully, especially in challenging times, is one of the best ways to put current events in perspective. It forces you to see that victims of poverty and natural disasters — whether across the sea or across the street — aren’t just faceless statistics in a newspaper, but human beings. You can’t help but feel empathy. In my travels, I’ve stood on the steps of sacred temples in Katmandu, bowed my head, and said “Namaste” to people–perhaps some of the very same people–who are now homeless and whose temples are now rubble.
Travel also helps me better appreciate the unrest in Baltimore. The violence that shook that city should surprise no one who’s traveled in the Developing World.
I’ve seen “Baltimore” in Central America. In many Latin American countries, the gap between rich and poor is Grand Canyon-esque. Big corporations and the landed gentry call the shots. Governments have armies not to protect themselves from foreign enemies but from angry and hopeless people within their own societies. (Back in the 1980s, Costa Rica–headed by President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias–drew the suspicion of the USA by simply not having an army. His country had the most equal distribution of wealth in the region, and didn’t need a military force to protect its elites from its own citizens.)
Today in the USA, we too have a widening gap between rich and poor. Our friendly neighborhood cops-on-the-beat are becoming more like an occupying military force—seemingly necessary in a “democracy” where corporations are considered “citizens” and money is “free speech.”
When you’ve traveled the Third World, the violence that erupted in Baltimore should come as no surprise. It’s the symptom of hopelessness. When people feel the system is rigged and they are victims of structural poverty in a world of obscene wealth, they don’t navigate life by the rules others would expect of them. They attack symbols of authority. They burn corporate icons. They support demagogues. They believe wild promises. They join ISIS.
So when people question how I can enjoy a great vacation while horrible things are happening, I say “Sure, horrible things are happening. But what good does staying home do, especially when I find being on the road gives me a better understanding of the challenges our society will be confronting for a long time to come and help me better respond.” It’s not whether you are at home or abroad during challenging times. It’s what you are learning and what you are doing that matters.
I’ve learned in my travels that, while the day-to-day news comes and goes, some problems live on. After the cameramen go home, earthquake victims still need food and shelter. It’s made me more committed than ever to finding long-term solutions to deeper problems, whether it’s disaster relief, wealth inequality or climate change.
To those on the road right now or planning a trip, I say “Keep on traveling.” Stay in touch with the news if you so choose. Or wait till you come home, when — I guarantee — you’ll watch the six o’ clock news with fresh eyes. Then act with your renewed energy and global perspective. Empower those public leaders who honestly address the hopelessness that angers America’s poor. Send a donation to your favorite organization. Help mend buildings, bodies and souls in Nepal, where beautiful people are still clasping their hands gently together and saying Namaste — “I salute the divine good within you.”
OK Rick. I was agreeing with you until the comments about the police being an occupying force. In our country, 99.% of cops (and I am not a cop) are trying to do the right thing. Inner city violence has been a problem in our country for decades.
I too have traveled extensively in third world countries from the time I was a little boy (and I’m almost your age). I have seen poverty. And the corporations in our country are not causing poverty.
What we need is opportunity. We need inner city families to be responsible citizens. Politicians saying their citizens need space to destroy is simply not right. Burning down your local CVS that your neighborhood families depend on for jobs and merchandise is not right.
Community leaders need to step-up and preach responsibility for their followers. That’s when more opportunities will open up for all.
Keep traveling, learning and enjoying!
here here Rick. You have said a great deal in your post. All of which I agree. It is also good to travel to see how the rest of the world reports the disasters going on in the world. The U.S. News organizations report a fraction of what is happening and when they do, it is not actually given in any context. International reporters are in Baltimore, I’d not be surprised that they put it the exact context you did and not just good/evil. Thanks for a great post.
We need big corporations, and especially the Wall St crime syndicates, to be responsible citizens.
Political leaders need to speak up about responsibility to the criminals on wall Street.
When the criminals on wall St are jailed, and their firms are broken up, opportunities will open up for all.
The corporations of the US, from the MIC to big pharma, to big healthcare most certainly are contributing to the despair felt by our fellow citizens in Baltimore.
Thanks, Rick. Beautifully and wisedly phrased retort to sound byte thinking! Keep up the great work and advocacy for those in our greater human family.
Thank you Rick. So well said and from the heart and the mind of a man who has obviously thought about these issues.
My daughter and I just returned from a Viking Cruise that took us up to Budapest, Passau, Vienna, Salzburg and Bratslavia. We also spent three days in Prague, and eight in St. Petersburg. Talking with people, listening to their stories and seeing how hard they are working to rebuilt their cities and their lives puts the west in an entirely different perspective. I am grateful I live in Canada but certainly have changed my views on many things.
Not only are situations the same throughout the world, but events have repeated themselves throughout history. Sometimes only the players have changed. Remember the crusades, Joan of Arc and the Inquisition.
The worse thing that happened to this earth was the Ice Age, bring back those dinosaurs, they would keep humans on their toes.
I went to Greece 10 days after 9/11 and the reception from the Greek people was so heartening and uplifting. I went back in Sept/Oct 2008 when Lehman Brothers and the whole global financial meltdown was happening. We were barely able to exchange our money or use any of the ATMs and you could just see the beginning of what was happening to the Greek people. I was back in 2011 and watching how the Greek people were trying to cope, with pharmacies closing, salaries dropping and costs going up, was sad and uplifting. There will always be something horrid happening in our world but many people live by tourism, as in .greece an exploring the world can only be be a helpful and healing activity.
I agree with much of what you said but the police need a little slack. In my City (L.A.) the district attorney never used to prosecute criminals who assaulted the police because unanimous jury decisions were hard to come by. The LAPD is now starting to use car cameras in LA and the community leaders are protesting this because so many of their young men are being sent to prison for the assaults on the police that they used to get away with. Sure life is difficult for these young men. But it’s not the police who pass the laws. Would the deaths in Baltimore, Ferguson, New York, and now Venice have happened if the young men had not fought with the police? Neither you nor I would think for a second about fighting with the police.
Greetings,
Americans are watching too much commercialized news from “new media”. The trend is to make news entertaining and for “newscasters” to add fluff and their uninformed opinions.
Commercial television and TV mainstream news needs to be professional. The PBS NewsHour is the best source of real news.
Thanks for your views and
Keep On Travelin’.
Ciao,
Jeff
WEDU
Tampa
If we waited to travel until there was no bad news we’d never leave home.
” the corporations in our country are not causing poverty.” They are causing poverty by shipping jobs offshore. In NC I have seen whole industries moved out of the country since NAFTA. And that’s only the beginning.
Agree with your views. Seeing people in real life is far different than we see in news.
Well said Rick. In our soundbyte media world people too often don’t think beyond 140 characters. Your comment “It’s not whether you are at home or abroad during challenging times. It’s what you are learning and what you are doing that matters.” says it all. People CAN choose to be informed, make genuine decisions and act accordingly.
Thank you for your insight and caring.
Thanks Rick for keeping us all connected with the wider world and remember that people have the same wants and needs wherever they happen to live.
On Social Media many of my friends have also shared examples of people in Baltimore living up to the values Americans often lay claim to such as honor and fairness.
For example, one picture showed a line of people protecting policemen from protestors. Thank you to all of you out there as well.
Before the 60′, 90% of black men new who their fathers and grandfathers were. Today, thanks to big government welfare culture, less than 30% do. This is how barbarism takes over a community. Boys must be disciplined by the influence of their fathers and grandfathers.
Rick
As the great Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan warned in the late 60’s the disintegration of the once proud black family has had disastrous effects on the black community. With 70 percent of births occurring outside of marriage, the black youth of today are relegated to a life of poverty, which no amount of government spending will rectify. Unfortunately the black culture worships the rap culture and is totally victimized by those in Government power, whose very livelihood depends on the suppression of opportunities for the black community. I am currently in Florence and enjoying it very much.
[Sorry, HTML codes in preceding comment got a bit twisted up. Taking a second run at it below. :-) ]
Mind-blowing commentary. Thanks, Rick S. It’s hardly been apparent (to me) from his broadcasts that Rick was noticing what’s been going down for ordinary people here or abroad. Unemployment, unrest, rising poverty and violence are not the usual fare of tourist shows.
Somewhere between 35% and 45% of US citizens have passports, depending on how you count. That’s twice what it was in 2000, when Canada and Mexico didn’t require them of US residents. The percentage varies considerably by US region. (See map at http://www.theexpeditioner.com/2010/02/17/how-many-americans-have-a-passport-2/ )
But only an estimated 3% of Americans ever travel outside N. America.
No wonder Lu’s comment was spot on:
Not exactly the best basis for building informed opinions about the outside world.
We’re free to find context out, but it takes interest, work and time. Go abroad and – especially if you leave the beaten tourist paths and know smatterings of another language, or better yet if you spend a while living abroad – you’ll be neck-deep in luscious context.
As Rick points out, after that you’ll never see things the same way again. Travel independently for just a week or two and you’ll return with an experience-based outlook that 90% of Americans have no feel for.
The lack of first-hand experience abroad among voters is, in fact, what the American political system is, umm, banking on.