Around the World

I had this thought tonight.... This man on this show said something about wanting people to visit his town, and his town is way out in the country of Vietnam. And I started to well up... And i know that sounds crazy at first thought, but think about it a bit. There is a large world out there. There are so many towns and countries and villages... and we can't possibly get to them all. And some people have amazing ways of life or crazy stories to tell or families that shouldn't just be in one place... and here we are, thinking about our travels, and wondering about the world out there, and we have to keep wondering, and watching good programs, and longing to travel. And sure, we'll get to some of those places, but there is bound to be some thoughtful person out there who would love to share her way of life with us, and we'll never meet her. 

It just brings tears to your eyes. There is so much out there, and we can only experience so little. There are people out there meant to share their stories with us, and they will only reach hundreds. In the grand scheme of things hundreds is nothing. I can reach hundreds on Facebook. 

Sometimes it is just overwhelming. I am here, living life, working hard, trying to imagine what our world will be like with Obama (hopefully), and there are lives out there wholly unaffected by my melodrama. They are better or worse off for it, and i will never know. Sometimes what I will never know makes me double over with nauseousness. I could live to be 312 and i would know nothing of what goes on, and it makes me feel sick. 

but on a softer side.... There are so many real people out there whose stories are not told. Will we keep reading books? Honestly, I feel that is the best medium for those stories. Hopefully people keep reading. 

I guess all we can do is learn and read and try to understand, and for the love of god keep traveling. And seriously... understand that there are sooo many people out there who grew up differently than you. That is something I learn every day. We have to understand that no matter how open minded we are we are a product of our environment, and we have to keep questioning that. We all know that our parents didn't know all, so remember that every day. and try to understand that as parents if we are ourselves. 

There is hope. There has to be. Because there was hope one thousand years ago, and there was hope sixty years ago, and there is hope today. We are going to be okay, as long as we keep remembering that we do not know everything. And we have not been everywhere.