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Published: November 25th 2010
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I don’t wear glasses. However, I have been told, by a good friend of mine that one of his most significant experiences in his life was the first time he ever put on glasses. For him it was more than simply improving his vision. He could see leaves on trees; he could recognize his friends from great distances, as if he wiped away grime and condensation that had clouded up his bedroom window. The world literally became clear to him. It affected his clarity of mind and will. He was moved to tears.
This story touched me in a way that I didn’t quite comprehend at the time. I’ve been thinking about why it meant so much to me recently. Probably because I’m jobless, homeless, and I’m about to take a trip through South America for the next year or two of my life. I also recently spent about 20 hours driving from my home in Boston to my home in Atlanta in a car… and with nothing else to do but fight falling asleep at the wheel (thank science for rumble strips), the mind just starts wandering. It probably should have put more time into thinking about financial stability,
health insurance, transportation while I’m away, an itinerary of my journey, how I feel about leaving my friends and family for so long, what I’ll do if I get mugged or robbed or yellow fever, et cetera, et cetera. However I found my mind drifting toward the more important things… like if they accept absentee ballots from outside of the country, if my Spanish was good enough to pick someone up, and how I will maintain my facial hair while I’m gone.
I also thought about why I’m leaving. I get asked this question a lot. Especially when people saw all I had going for me in one of my favorite cities in the world. I had a job I loved, an enviable tolerance for alcohol, a respectable gym attendance record, an overzealous urge to play frisbee, a roof deck, a motorcycle, and some of the best friends a guy could hope for. .. for which a guy could hope, I mean. And maybe that’s part of the reason for leaving. I could see myself staying in Boston for a very long time. But as Paulo Coehlo said “A boat is safe in the harbor. But this is not
the purpose of a boat.”
I’ve left before. After college I traipsed around Europe for just over a year. It was hard, very hard, to leave then. But somewhere along my travels there I became more of the person that I still strive to be. I became addicted to this endless pursuit. I made a promise to myself that I would only stay stationary for 3 years. And of all the things I break, I HATE breaking promises the most. Especially the promises I make to myself… even if they are the hardest to keep. So after three and a half years, I made the exec decish to leave.
Sounds simple I guess. Pack a bag and hit the road. But it involves a lot of untangling from so many different aspects and people in my life. As is expected with any sort of stable life, one becomes intertwined with a job, a circle of friends, commitments, expectations, sleeping arrangements, et cetera. I gave seven weeks notice at my job. Left my apartment and stayed on friends’ couches for a couple months to save money. I attended multiple going away celebrations, about half of which I remember. And I,
unlike my last departure, got rid of ninety percent of all my material possessions.
This last one is much harder than it sounds. But I wanted to know how it feels to have everything on my back. To be truly independent, or as close to it as I can be. I imagine the freedom… and the fear. But I think that we, as pampered United Statesians, live in too safe a world. Not in a danger sense - but am I the only one who secretly despises twenty-four hour Wal-marts? That sees knick-knacks and veganism and air-conditioning as luxuries? That will eat a steak that’s been slightly overcooked and still wear a shirt even if it’s a couple sizes too small? My point is, we, as a nation, have become so inundated with opulence, that we stopped being amazed at the privilege and became accustomed to the lifestyle. Evensomuchas to demand these creature comforts as if they were owed to us. Consider the following:
A cruise ship recently, due to a fire in the engine room, had to stay at sea for an extra three days. The press portrayed the incident as if these people will forever be
emotionally and psychologically affected by this horrific life changing event. That being forced to eat spam and listen to the same band multiple nights in a row constituted cruel and unusual punishment. I’m sure there will be law suits filed against an array of different corporations, and high priced settlements will be made seeing as Mother Nature isn’t financially accountable after the passengers had to sleep on unwashed bed sheets for two nights in a row.
In other news, thirty-three Chilean miners were freed from a cavern after spending sixty-nine days underground. Hundreds of thousands of West Africans suffer through drought and famine, female mutilation continues by the millions Somalia, East Africa, and the Middle East, overpopulation leads to widespread disease and unlivable conditions in India, tsunamis destroy thousands of homes and lives in Southeastern Asia. Today, in the USA, there are millions that live below the poverty line. …and you’re pissed because your appetizer came out at the same time as your entrée.
These are extremes, of course. But if you look closely you will see small windows to simple truths. We as a world community of individuals, lack perspective. We… I… have become too comfortable in
The final stages of Packing
I'm no where near ready for this. my own shoes.
Where this whole rant leads me, I can only suppose, is to naivety versus wisdom. There’s only one way to get a different point of view, and that’s through expanding the mind by way of broadening the quantity and quality of experiences you submit yourself to. Just like any task expands to the time allotted to it, so the mind expands to the amount of worldly experience allotted to it. Then it’s just a matter of figuring out what people and things you want to keep as a part of your life and what you should leave behind. Could an expanded mind + refined filter = wisdom…?
And so I’ll embark on this voyage. What perils I’ll encounter - how many tapeworms infest my intestines, times I get mugged, or illegitimate offspring I produce – no one knows. But I know that I’ll keep an open mind to the road ahead. Maybe sometime during the journey I’ll pick up a new set of glasses, through which the world will become a little clearer to me. I can only hope.
I’m kicking off the trip in San Jose, Costa Rica and plan to move south from there. I have a couple of friends that I plan on meeting up with along the way in Peru and Bolivia. I’ll eventually find a great place and great people, rent an apartment, find a job, live the good life for a little while. Then I’ll continue on my way.
Stay tuned.
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Mom
non-member comment
You are wise beyond your years
I am impressed again. You have always been smart, warm, open, giving, lovable and a great human being. You're my "traveling man" and I'm so very proud of you. I enjoyed our time together the past 2 weeks. I know you are off to another wonderful life experience. I look foward to your blogs. I love you, Mom