Assumptions

Hello Everybody!
We are now in the beautiful country of Laos. I don't know if I've ever seen a place so green! Lisa and I are both doing well. As our trip winds down we begin to realize how far we've come and how much we've seen and done on the way. This trip has been amazing - and it ain't over yet!

Today's blog is a little different - it is not so much a description or account of a place or experience but a commentary on one of the many lessons we've learned on the way - and yes, it is a challenge to my fellow Americans. I'm a proud American and so the issue I talk about really gets under my skin - because I know the real beauty of my home country and I know I have reason to be proud. I hope you see and understand my point and if you disagree or have something to say, don't be shy! Here we go...

After almost six months of travel I have at least a dozen anecdotes to take home – anecdotes about travel, about life, about toilets and drinking water and instant coffee. One such anecdote is this:
Sometimes, in order to discover where you are from, you must travel abroad.
A person’s identity, both personally and culturally, is challenged daily when traveling and can be redefined from country to country, town to town. Life abroad takes on an uninvited amount of assumption both on the part of the traveler and on the part of those the traveler meets. A traveler assumes they know something about their next destination based on hearsay, history and guidebook details. The people they meet assume they know the traveler based on the answer to the worlds most asked question: “Where do you come from?”
A simple question with a simple answer. The answer never changes. It is a static truth as certain as the day you were born. But the conclusion reached, based on the assumptions presumed, can vary as widely as the weather in Nairobi and Nantucket. And suddenly a naïve traveler such as myself discovers that countries and cultures are not defined by the people that inhabit them but by the people who do not – the visitors, the foreigners, the documentary watchers and article readers.
Case in point: Ask any American to define Africa and you are likely to hear the words “wild” and “dangerous” but if you were to ask a local tribesman or smiling child on an African plain I doubt either “wild” or “dangerous” would be first on their list. Just as history is defined by the winners of wars, so modern day culture is defined by the mass media induced pictures and phrases. Africa is “wild,” Asia is “exotic,” America is “naïve,” and Australia is full of crocodiles.
In extreme cases I fear these definitions are in danger of becoming true. Africans, treated as unruly, their foreign aid delivered under armed supervision, and political dissention treated as a continual crisis instead isolated events, have indeed become increasingly wild. Asia, depicted as erotic in films and literature, taught to students as the seat of communism and drug activity, and pictured on postcards as pristine and picturesque, has indeed become a place of exoticism full of sex trades, easy drugs and a subculture of seedy expats and backpackers.
And what of America? Have we become naïve after years (possibly centuries) of accusations from the more ‘cultured’ European nations that we are inward-looking, self-effacing, and power-hungry? Do we ignore the plight of our neighboring nations – more interested in the antics of Brittney Spears than with the violence in South Africa? Is it true that Americans don’t travel, don’t read and don’t care? My indignation at these accusations is surely mirrored in the hearts and minds of many educated and hardworking Africans and Asians. And, perhaps, we face the same dilemma – the apathy of our fellow countrymen.
Like any rumor, the only way to dispel it is to prove it false. Africans – not the UN – must strive for political peace. Asians – not foreign government agencies – must restrict and reduce the drug and sex trades. And Americans – not organizations but actual citizen’s en masse – must show an interest in foreign affairs.
Open your newspapers! Subscribe to English versions of overseas publications! Get varied opinions and look for other sources of information concerning current events. And – TRAVEL! Go to a former Soviet state to see the ruins of communism. Go to Beijing to see communism’s new face. Visit Mexico City’s slums and Costa Rica’s rich coastline. Go to Spain and France and Italy and decide for yourself if looking at a 15th century fresco makes you more cultured. But if time and money restrict you from going abroad then at least surf the web and hike through the local library. Naivety is just as difficult to dispel as exoticism and wildness but wisdom and understanding, when precursors to kindness and involvement, can erase them all.
And as for Australia being full of crocodiles – well, that is a rumor that neither I nor the natives can completely dispel. I tend to think they like the dangerous and untamed picture this paints of them and their land. And maybe it’s this spirit of mystery, courage and mischievousness that truly shows the nature of an Australian. I guess some rumors are true after all.

Summer has come on a heat wave to South East Asia and both Lisa and I have not enjoyed the intense heat here in Laos. The nights are cool but the days are extremely hot and humid...sounds a bit like South Texas doesn't it?
I hope that you are all doing well. I hope to have Malaysia wrapped up and posted this week then I can move on to Thailand. Until then, take care and keep in touch.

With love from the road...