The father of American literature hit the nail squarely on the head in the 19th century when he explained the value of exploring outside one’s own country, as referenced in the title of this post.
Besides prejudice, travel is also fatal to bigotry and narrow-mindedness. A recent study concluded traveling to places more different than your home country teaches you to build deeper trust.
Last month, I helped organize a leadership program for 38 high school students from 6 different countries. It was actually held in Japan (we did all the planning virtually, which was its own lesson in intercultural communication), and extraordinarily effective.
The biggest impact, however, was the impression it left on the students.
“I was moved by the program’s spirit to teach us not to repeat wars.” Japanese student
“It made me more aware of how I interact with people, and see how beautiful each culture difference is, and seeing that it is very possible to make friends anywhere.” Fort Worth student
“My world and knowledge became bigger and it changed my future dream.” Hungarian student
Here are three compelling, invaluable and enriching byproducts of travel:
- Travel opens you up to people, perspectives, and ideas that would be impossible to understand without first-hand experience
- Traveling builds your ability to give compassion and empathy
- Traveling helps you understand your own culture
On the final night of our program last month, I watched with pride as all 38 students spontaneously sang Adele’s hit song “Hello” together.
It was powerful watching these teenagers, from different religions and cultures, sharing a breakthrough moment together.
And if we’re lucky, they will grow up to be leaders in their own countries, paying forward the importance of people-to-people goodwill in the pursuit of peace.
One of the greatest gifts you can give a young person is an opportunity for a global experience. The odds are that they’ll pursue something international-related, a foreign language, or study abroad in college. And it will shape their life trajectories and mold their characters.
Having more students who can find similarities with others, while celebrating differences, is a key step toward mankind’s never-ending pursuit of peace.