You are a World Traveller: Be Curious About the Natives
// September 28th, 2011 // Uncategorized
The trip begins now, more than a year before I leave the United States. The trip begins when I become a tourist in my everyday life and learn to approach the world with a sense of wonder.
The trip cannot be postponed. It begins this very moment, in my psychology class, where so many other mornings I’ve sat slack-jawed and discontent, wondering what prompted me to register for a class that started at 8:30 am.
But today I choose to look at my surroundings with a sense of novelty. The middle-aged woman across the room transforms. She is no longer a fixture, a dull acquaintance I’ve exchanged hellos with once or twice. She is a native of this new place, an elder with valuable advice for my journey. Each item of her costume, from her earrings to her glasses to her shirt was chosen for a reason unknown to me.
The first part of my journey is accepting that every person has a reality separate from my own. This sounds obvious, but be honest. How often do we use a subjective mental shorthand to categorize other people? The woman in my class is wearing a yellow shirt with the words “Humboldt County, established 1850” printed on it. I’ve seen this shirt for sale at a chain pharmacy. So I assume she’s the type of person who buys her clothing at chain pharmacies: not my type of person.
But what do I know? The shirt might be a gift from a beloved grandson or have an equally poignant backstory. And what does the shirt say about her? Above all, it says that she is proud of the place she lives. I have never worn a shirt that proclaims my pride in any place.
In our everyday lives, people who aren’t potential lovers or friends, people in whom we have no investment, often turn into social furniture. We see them without really seeing them. We have no interest in finding out what makes them unique, what motivates them and what lessons they may have for us. When we are travelers each person we meet is a potential experience, their very foreignness warranting notice and investigation, a conversation recorded in our journals. Today I am a traveler, and I think I will ask her where she got her shirt.
Linda