The Spark to My Curiosity…

I didn’t always care about the world that existed beyond my own. Not that I had a negative view or frustration toward anything outside of my direct experience, I just didn’t pay much attention to it. The outside world seemed out of reach. I existed in moments and with people that were tangible- while everyone and anywhere else might as well have been fictional. The unknown made me nervous, the unpredictable overwhelmed me, and I had a distinct assumption that anyone outside of my own bubble was drastically different than I was. I grew up thinking that other countries seemed strange in comparison to my own. My experience up until I was 21 years old was limited to a few states in close proximity to me and the people I grew up with. Any awareness of happenings beyond myself came from a class, a book assignment, or the news- none of which made it real on any emotional or influential level. Learning of political issues, international conflicts, or policy debates was of little interest as it seemingly didn’t affect me or I was too insignificant to have any sort of connection to it. And I had no idea that the predictable nature of my life, the absence of a diversified group of people, and my limited scope of experiential learning was stifling my biggest strengths and preventing me from uncovering my greatest passions. My voice was being silenced as I was unknowingly shutting myself out. There was no spark to my curiosity…until there was.

The purpose of this post and furthermore this blog is to introduce my why. Why do I care so much about “stuff like this?” What sparked my interest in people, politics, social issues and injustice? And by the same token, how is it that some people care so much while others remain apathetic or resistant to realities outside their own? Or worse- they reject the unknown and work to protect themselves and their families from outsiders while other people’s struggles remain theoretical at best. I want to highlight the tremendous impact that experience of other cultures can have on a person’s open-mindedness and tolerance, however small that experience may be. And why the people you meet in life, especially those that have faced life very differently than you have, are the greatest gift to your growth and development as a human. I have been fortunate enough to meet some incredible people throughout my life-all with their own unique perspectives, stories, and strengths. They all have served a purpose in defining who I am. But for me, it was one person in particular that gave me the gift of acceptance and openness to new people. He gave me the key I needed to open the door to a world beyond myself, walk into it, and feel like I belonged. That every challenge facing the world wasn’t just everyone else’s, they were also my own. That there was no such thing as “them” and then “me”; I had a connectedness to all people. And that regardless of how different someone may appear we are all pretty much the same at our core.

When I was 21 years old I met a guy from a small town in England. It was the beginning of my senior year at Oregon State and he had just begun his sophomore year studying abroad. We met at a party and I was drawn to him in a way I had never been to anyone else. He was quirky, overly enthusiastic, charismatic and did everything he could to stand out from his American classmates. He had an unmistakable British accent and often dressed in a metallic silver suit with his hair in gelled spikes. He had a gregarious spirit, an obnoxious laugh, and embodied everything unfamiliar to me. He was different. We ended up dating for nearly 6 years. And it was ultimately his natural curiosity, endless knowledge of people and places, and his connection to a world I was unacquainted with that had the biggest impact on me as a person. He changed my life in the best possible way.

The first time I stepped foot outside the U.S. I had just landed in London, England to visit him. I was alone, nervous, and extremely uncomfortable. Everything was unfamiliar. From the signs to the bathroom labeled “toilet” to the actual toilets themselves. The people in Heathrow Airport were all so foreign to me. Middle Eastern, Indian, Polish-I had never been around such a diverse crowd of people at one time. I felt out of place and that everyone around me knew it. For the first time in my life being an American felt lame. Unimportant. Insignificant. As Americans we grow up with this inflated image of ourselves and our standing in the world. It’s a feeling of superiority based around the belief that we live better and hold more power than anyone else does. We’re taught that we’re the envy of the rest of the world; few places have a higher sense of national superiority than the U.S. does. And its easy to hold onto that belief- until you actually leave. Your perspective completely changes, and it changes quickly. From there I spent 6 weeks in Europe (England, France, and the Netherlands) and my newfound awareness of the American superiority myth I had been fed my whole life was only exacerbated.

I could write pages upon pages of all the things I loved during my initial time in Europe and all the ways in which I realized the U.S. was at a disadvantage. Everything from the ability to go to the doctor when you’re ill without concern as to whether or not you could afford it, to the ease and efficiency of public transportation. But the focus of this post isn’t why another country is better than the U.S., its that traveling abroad opened my heart and my mind to the possibility of it. It exposed me to different people, different cultures and other ways of life. Suddenly there was no “me” and “them.” I realized that even someone that grew up 4,000 miles away from me shared far more similarities to me than they did differences. Traveling abroad sparked my curiosity, heightened my compassion and inspired me to learn. I wanted to learn as much as I could about the societies of the world, how different ideas and intellectual thought were connected, and how people’s lives were impacted by policy, conflict and cooperation. I finally felt apart of something bigger than myself.

In those moments at Heathrow Airport and my time in Europe I felt lucky-not that I was American, but that I was able to have such an uncomfortable and humbling experience so far from my home. And that I was able to share that experience with someone that challenged me and my perspective. The vast majority of the world’s population will never be fortunate enough to see and understand how other people live, love and exist. And until you are exposed to new and different societies, you are likely to be left with the overwhelming belief that the society you were randomly born into is (conveniently) the best in the world. But I assure you, no matter what society that is, it’s not.

Yuval Noah Harari discusses in his book “21 Lessons for the 21st Century” that people base their perception and decisions about the world on emotional reactions rather than rational analysis. So no matter how much you read and study about other cultures it may never fully change your perspective of the world until you live and experience it for yourself. We live in a time of an over-abundance of information and exposure to facts and figures, yet for many people it has little impact on changing their opinions and views. But I’ll dive deeper into that at another time…