How Your Next Vacation Can Dispel Fear and Mistrust
It can broaden your perspective of the world and those who live differently than in your backyard.
I come from a blue-collar family and vacations were always a way to let my hard-working parents unwind and spend time with the kids. The destination wasn’t as important as the journey with the only requirements for a good vacation spot were that it wasn’t too far away, it wasn’t too expensive, and it offered something for everyone. I grew up in Southern California and so it wasn’t difficult for my parents to find a suitable spots to vacation and I have many fond memories spent on beaches, at Disneyland, and in the local mountains.
When my children were younger my wife and I viewed vacations as a way to show them the wonderful diversity of our country including New York City, the Grand Canyon, the coast of Maine, and the beaches of California. When they were older we took our children with us when I attended overseas academic meetings to give them a chance to explore their culture heritage and learn more about the world. These were working vacations for me, making it possible to take our family to places that would otherwise be difficult to afford.
Now that my children are adults my definition of the best places to vacation has once again changed. We live in very turbulent and dangerous times and the world seems more divided than at any other time in my life. This divisiveness has many root causes but two of the main ones are ignorance and fear of the unknown. Few of us ever leave the comfort of familiar surroundings and so we know very little of life outside our own small sphere of experience.
In his book Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain stated: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” This is as relevant today as it was in 1869 and is an excellent summary of how I believe one should decide where to vacation.
For an Eastern Yankee like myself vacationing in Savanna Georgia, Little Rock Arkansas, or Charlotte North Carolina would give me a better perspective on why our country is so divided than if I stuck with vacation spots in the Eastern United States. When traveling abroad, visiting Eastern European countries, the Middle East, or China would be more enlightening than sticking to Northern Europe or Australia. Using vacation time to broaden our perspective of the world and better understand those who live differently would begin to defuse the distrust and fear many feel when confronted with people whose opinions and beliefs seem so foreign.
The world is becoming more interdependent and this trend will only accelerate. Now is a good time to begin to better understand those who will soon be our neighbors and colleagues and using vacation time to help accomplish this is an easy way to start.
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Dr. James Goydos is an expert in melanoma research and specialist in surgical oncology with an M.D. from Rutgers University. With over 20 years of experience as a Professor, Surgeon, and Clinical Trial Lead, he is a leading expert in his field.
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