Through the kindness of others we experience true beauty

I hope you don't mind
if I just continue to comment on your blogs...I'll try to stop just short of being a pest. Anyway, I too was gifted an amazing step-father. Let's hear it for the step dads out there! My epiphany that people are basically GOOD happened on a 5-month hike on the Appalachian Trail where it seemed every day was graced by kindness from strangers. It filled my heart permanently with some base knowledge that, to quote the desiderata, 'with all it's sham, drudgery and broken dreams it is still a beautiful world' - if more people participated in the simple acts of kindness that buoy our most difficult moments, imagine the world it could be. That's why traveling and travelers are the vectors; as our eyes are open to more and more realities out there, our perspectives will hopefully help spread more kindness in return for the gift of being able to travel. Burma sounds lovely. Makes me long for another SE Asia trip...

poverty
yes after visiting Nepal and Cambodia I wonder truly what the measure of poverty is. While people from those countries are by our standards materially poor their lives are so rich with family and simplicity I had a hard time reconciling the label 'poor'. Over the years I have decided that poverty should be defined more from the standpoint of full bellies, healthy bodies and potential for opportunity. Just about everything else is happenstance. As for our first world existence being isolating I totally agree - I always come back from those trips a bit sad that our lives aren't simpler, that our human connections have been severed, that the sense of community that once bound us all together is so disjointed. i guess that's why we go camping a lot, to stare into the fire and talk to each other and get back to the basics of being human. Cheers :) Alisa