American Ignorance
Why Americans should travel outside the U.S.
Americans need to get out of their own country and travel to other locations. And I am not talking about going on a cruise to Mexico to get drunk. Did you know that only 5% of Americans actually have a passport? I remember when I traveled to France for the first time. All the Americans that I spoke to were cautioning me how the French hate us. When I got to France I noticed the exact opposite. The French love us; they just hate our government. The French were very hospitable. I loved their culture, the people, the food, and the laid back atmosphere.
I believe that Americans need to get out and experience different cultures and countries for a variety of different reasons. I believe that most people, once they have experienced traveling abroad will come back as different people. They will see the world in a different light. From my own personal experiences I started paying attention to what was going on in the rest of the world more. I can listen to different perspectives and understand how people can view different topics vastly differently. It is a great experience to step out of this bubble that many Americans have around them and realize so many different things.
It seems that since America is so large that we kind of forget what is going on in the rest of the world. We are divided by states but that is just a line on the map. We are not divided by culture, language, or even currency. I cannot really pinpoint one main reason of why Americans have this bubble around us. Is it because of the industrial revolution? Is it because after World War II we became the “world police” and we think ourselves better than other countries? Is it because we have been spoiled with everything that you can buy in America that our Grandparents never would have imagined when they were young? I cannot give you a straight answer to this question. But I can tell you that I have met plenty of Americans who have their own assumptions and accepted ways of understanding the world around them, with nothing to base it on.
Once you travel abroad it opens so many new trains of thought though. And I believe that view the world with a much more empathetic understanding of the connections between themselves and the places they’ve visited. They will start to see the people around them in a much different light. And they will see their selves on different sides of a debate than they used too.
I also believe that traveling can open up so many different opportunities for you. Employers will look on your resume and see someone who took the initiative to broaden their horizons. They will know that you have gained that experiential learning by being in contact with other local cultures and people. This could make you more marketable in your field.
Another reason I believe Americans need to travel, especially when we are younger, is because we are all crazy. Yeah I said crazy. We work our whole lives for one thing or another. We work hard in high school to get accepted at a good college. We work hard in college to get a good paying job. We work hard at work to get a good wage, decent benefits, and a secure pension. We just love to work hard. This is exactly one reason that young Americans should travel. You should be able to get out there and experience how the rest of the world operates. It will be a great learning experience for you. And it will give you something to tell your children and grand children about.
There are so many different reasons that I believe Americans should travel abroad. Above are just a few. Do you agree with me and if so what are some other reasons you think we should travel abroad?
