The Grass Is Never Greener
Posted: 12/09/2013 | Dec 9th, 2013
As I lay on a beach on the isle of Ko Lipe, my Kiwi friend Paul turned to me together with asked, “Backgammon?”
“Of course,” I said. “What else is at that spot to do.”
We’d play for hours earlier heading to our favorite eating seat inward the “town center.” The possessor would learn us Thai together with the local Chao Lay linguistic communication patch laughing at our inability to handgrip spicy food. We’d express joy along amongst him, portion some jokes, together with caput dorsum to the beach.
At night, we’d walk barefoot to the island’s chief beach, and, amongst the generators buzzing inward the background, potable together with smoke amongst our other friends into the wee hours of the morning.
Then when the generators turned off together with nosotros alone had starlight to lite our way, nosotros would bid each other adept nighttime until morning, when nosotros would practise it all over again.
When I initiative of all began traveling, I imagined myself every bit Indiana Jones on the call for for the Holy Grail (definitely non some weird crystal-skull infinite aliens). My Holy Grail was that perfect go 2d inward some off-the-beaten-path metropolis no 1 had e'er visited before. I’d get got a run a jeopardy meet amongst a local that would give me a window into the local culture, alter my life, together with opened upwards my eyes to the beauty of humanity.
In short, I was looking for my version of The Beach.
The Beach was a mass published inward the 1990s nearly backpackers inward Thailand who, fed upwards amongst the commercialization of the backpacker trail inward Asia, sought out a to a greater extent than authentic, pristine paradise.
Ko Lipe was an isle filled amongst banana pancakes, Wi-Fi, together with tourists. It wasn’t paradise, but it was my paradise.
The Beach exists, but it’s non a item identify or destination; it’s a 2d inward fourth dimension when consummate strangers from reverse ends of the the world come upwards together, portion memories, together with create bonds that terminal forever.
You notice those moments constantly, together with when y'all do, y'all commence to realize what go has been trying to learn y'all from the beginning:
No affair where y'all are inward the world, we’re just the same.
And that uncomplicated realization is the most exciting “Aha!” 2d y'all tin e'er experience.
Before I started traveling, I dreamt that elsewhere inward the the world the grass was greener. That patch I was stuck inward my irksome portion job, people inward destinations I alone dreamed of were doing wonderful together with exciting things.
If alone I was there, my life would live on meliorate together with to a greater extent than exciting.
But traveling just about the world has taught me that the grass on your neighbor’s lawn is the exact same shade of greenish every bit your own.
The to a greater extent than y'all travel, the to a greater extent than y'all realize that daily life together with people just about the the world are just the same.
And, inward doing so, y'all come upwards to empathize the beauty of our shared humanity.
Everyone wakes up, worries nearly their kids, their weight, their friends, together with their job. They commute. They relax on the weekend. They withdraw heed to music together with beloved movies. They laugh, they cry, the worry just similar you.
But local civilisation is merely how dissimilar people practise things. I beloved how the French obsess over wine, the Japanese are thus polite, Scandinavians beloved their rules, Thais seem to get got a clock that is forever xx minutes late, together with Latin cultures are passionate together with fiery.
That is culture. That diversity is why I travel.
I wish to regard how people alive life just about the world, from the farmers on the Mongolian steppe to the portion workers inward fast-paced Tokyo to the tribes of the Amazon. What’s the local get got on the mundane materials that I practise dorsum home?
We may wish to believe that the the world is nonstop excitement everywhere but where nosotros are — but it’s not. It’s the same.
I used to alive inward Bangkok pedagogy English. While I had flexible hours, I even thus dealt amongst commutes, bills, landlords, wearing suits to work, together with everything else that comes amongst an portion job. I got together amongst friends later operate for dinner together with drinks together with did it all over over again the side past times side day.
There I was, continents away from home, together with it was similar I was dorsum inward that cubicle inward Boston all over again.
The day-to-day life of people halfway across the the world is no dissimilar than yours.
On Ko Lipe, the locals would get got their kids to schoolhouse earlier opening their shops. They’d utter to us nearly their hopes together with dreams, together with they’d complain when non plenty tourists got off the boat. We’d attend birthday parties, merchandise linguistic communication lessons, together with caput out angling amongst them. There was a routine to their lives.
You’ll notice people doing things differently wherever y'all are. Sure, it’s fun eating on the Seine, sailing the Greek islands, or racing a motorbike just about Hanoi. But locals aren’t doing that every day. They’re merely living their lives, just similar y'all are correct now.
As tourists, nosotros oft gaze upon other cultures every bit if looking at a museum exhibit, gawking at people together with how they practise things. “Isn’t that funny,” nosotros powerfulness say. “How weird they swallow thus late.” “It makes no feel to practise it that way.”
But to me, those cultural differences are merely similar the petty quirks of a friend, no to a greater extent than or less exciting than your ain (but sometimes much to a greater extent than interesting).
When y'all realize how alike our lives are, y'all realize we’re all inward this together. You no longer regard people every bit some “other,” but instead recognize yourself inward them — the same struggles, hopes, dreams, together with desires y'all have, they get got for themselves.
And so, when an interviewer asked me terminal calendar week nearly the greatest thing traveling the the world has taught me, my heed straight off raced through all those moments on Ko Lipe, together with without hesitation, I replied:
“We’re all the same.”
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