Perhaps the most profound thing that I’ve learned so far is that people everywhere are basically the same. It seems that every place contains at least a few amazing people, and I always seem to stumble upon them.
There are several common traits that people everywhere share: we love, fear, hope, dream, hate, laugh, cry, and we all wonder where this tangled web of choice and consequence will lead us. Although some paths may cross for merely a short time, and some paths may never cross, the mere sway of the branches is enough to change everything.
It’s also becoming clear to me that a life worth living is a life spent reaching out to others, whether it be thousands, or a single person. As I’ve found out through less than forgiving experience, when the last train settles into the station for the night, all that we are left with is each other. No matter how much we try to ignore it, the waxing and waning of our happiness is largely dependent on others. We live and die at the hands of friends and enemies, no matter which part of the world we inhabit.
With this in mind, is it not worthwhile to leave home with reckless abandon in order to bring a smile to someone’s face half a world away? Is it not worth the risk of leaving home in order to experience the adventure of the return journey? Does it really matter where we end up?
It seems to me that the point of the journey is to gain the companionship of the fellow traveler, and despite our worries and fears, home is never farther than a twelve hour plane ride.