Sunday, November 17, 2013

Why Explore the World

What kind of world do we live in?

Explore the world! Photo by Lyle Malubay

Young people of the previous generations had always craved for an adventure - to explore the unknown and discover new realms beyond the seemingly endless horizon. And whenever they go back to their respective homes, they were eager to share their experiences, good or bad. As modern day sets in, there are a number of peope who still opt to visit various places but it seemed, were cut from the experience of culture, and from the truest meaning of traveling and exploring. There were many factors that were held up to blame: modern lifestyle, urban living, computers and gadgets, and the Internet. But, modernity shouldn't be solely blamed for it had contributed greatly of informing others about traveling through blogs, websites, and social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. What lacks people these days to discover the world is the drive and passion of experiencing life beyond their comfort zones. Our comfort zones. I guess we have all lived in mediocrity for a long time.

Indoctrinating the young ones to explore the world was something noble to perform, and so they were instructed to experience something about which they did not know what they are actually doing. It often boils down to disappointment. Misinterpreting other cultures of the world, for example, has led to miscommunication, and other unnecessary restrictions and policies. Such rules would have never been institutionalized if people really have an open mind whenever they travel. Things would have been better if travelers are not THAT selfish.

Drifting apart.

The predicament lies to some travelers. They thought that visiting such 'exotic' places is already enough. Some even make it to a point where traveling becomes a competition; whoever travels the most number of places wins an imaginary crown, fame, and money. The new generation of travelers were taught that there is an answer to every question; only in the real world do these new breed of travelers discover that many facets of life are mysterious, uncertain, and even unknowable. If you have a chance to mingle with the locals, or getting thrown by tomatoes in Spain, or eat a pail of deep fried insects in Thailand - you come away with a sense of mystery. Why on earth would they do that thing? It may seem abnormal to you, but it's their practice and had practically been doing that for a very long time. Besides, it is a learning process. The more you travel, the more mysterious and unpredictable the world becomes. Along the way, travelers also get a chance to experience nasty things such as aggresiveness, ruthlessness, wastefulness, and violence.

Through direct experiences in our travels, we learn the single most important lesson, and that is interconnectivity. We are all connected in this very complex system called life. We are bound to interact not just to the ecosystem, but also to different cultures up to the point where our resources finally limits our interaction. We have already interacted with complex systems very successfully. We do it all the time. But we do it by managing, not by claiming that we fully understood them. There is an endless iterative interaction that acknowledges we do not know for sure what the system will do - we have to wait and see. The world is such a beautiful place to discover and to experience new things beyond our comfort zone. We may have a hunch we know what will happen. We may be right much of the time. But we are never certain.

What a beautiful world.
Travel and explore.

How then can young people gain experience of the world? Ideally, by spending some time in a remote village or rain forests - those vast, uncomfortable, alarming, yet beautiful environments that so quickly knock our preconceptions aside.

What kind of world do we live in? Perhaps you should step outside of your comfort zone, and start exploring the world with an open mind and heart. Remember, the world is waiting for you.

Traveling with world, we are denied with certainty. And always will be.

 

 

13 comments:

  1. Young generations are very curious whatsoever. They hunger for things unexplored. Their curiosity needs to be met, to be satisfied or else not only they become innocent or misinformed but they become rebellious for the things they want to know.

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  2. why i love exploring and travelling is because i like to see heritage sites, walk through historical places and commune with nature :)

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  3. I believe everyone should travel and explore new things and get out of their comfort zone from time to time it is a very enriching experience and nobody can take it away from you

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  4. I would always want to travel the world but is worried about budget. Yes, I agree we find inter connectivity even without understanding other's languages.

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  5. Travel can really give us a wider perspective as we learn new culture and traditions.

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  6. Gil: Totally with you sir!

    Joy: Me too! Love to explore new places and learn its history.

    Earthlinggorgeous: True that! An enriching experience!

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  7. Ah. I somehow get your point. People travel to relax but not fully knowing the culture of the places they visit, is that it? You know every time I go to Davao and Bohol (both my province), somehow my habits die. (hahaha) the social networking is kind of gone and ended up chatting with the locals.

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  8. traveling is one enriching life experience that everyone ought to aim to travel + see more of the world! if i can afford it, i'd love to tour our country this year! :)

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  9. I've always wanted to travel unfortunately I don't have that much budget to do so. Anyway, I just make it up by reading books and searching the places I want to go.

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  10. I live in Portugal, and I love everything about Albufeira, as I have spent many years in Old Town. Since, I decided to take my family for a road trip on weekend, I considered it necessary to find a Albufeira rent a car and complete booking on time. It helped keeping my promise and see happiness on the faces of my kids.

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  11. Won’t you like to plan a weekend tour with your family, so that it helps getting completely refreshed and relaxed? I prefer visiting MPVRentals.com to find the cheap and best car rental provider in the city.

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  12. Traveling is a great hobby and a good way to learn more about our world. I love to travel, so I have already visited about 50 countries. On my trips, I often rent a car on Rental24.co.uk because it's quick and easy to travel with it, and you don't need to spend a lot of time waiting for public transportation, but you can just get in the car and go explore every corner of the world.

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