During the last few years, and most certainly the past few months, I've had the opportunity to reflect at length about the the pluses and minuses, pleasures and pains, strikes and gutters, etc., of wandering the globe, whether for business, pleasure, or sheer nomadic instinct.
In particular, I've been struck by what I would call the "curiosity gap". Put another way, there is clearly a division, a fault-line if you will, between those of the human race with a curiosity about their fellow mankind, and those that may acknowledge the existence of "others", but appear to have little interest in any greater understanding. Thus the genesis of my little essay below:
This division struck me quite clearly just the other day during one of hundreds of encounters I've had with ninos de la calle (street kids) in Peru. A pair of 11 / 12 year old boys came up to me with the usual sale of gum, cigarettes, etc. I gave my usual prepared response (ya lo tengo - I already have it, no gracias nino - no thanks sonny, etc.)Well that's enough rumination for now. I'm off to do a little more exploring of my own, get to see a bit of the Amazon rain-forest (sadly, I think of this as an opportunity to see it before it's gone), and start prepping for my semi-triumphant return to the U.S.
But one kid was particularly inventive and gave me the line - "but you need good smelling breath for your girlfriend, right?" Now I had to applaud the creative sales pitch, so I said "of course, how stupid of me" and told him he made a good sale. Now is was thinking this is clearly a pretty quick kid, so I was curious:
"How many hours do you guys usually work out here?", I asked.
"Around 9 hours per day, normally - 6 days a week", the older one replied, nonplussed by my questions.
"Do your parents work?"
"Yes, both of them work, but we all work, the whole family. But me and my brother are going back to school next year."
"Hey, mister" the younger one asked "Where are you from - England right?"
"No way!", feigning hurt at being confused with a gin swilling Brit (no offense...) "from the U.S., Washington, DC"
"Cool", the older one said, "we have a cousin who lives in New York. Someday I'm going to visit him, and maybe go to other places too - like London, Germany, Tokyo. All those places where you tourists come from!"
At this point, some of my fellow travelers were giving my arm a yank to get going to our next destination, and I had given the kids their soles for gum and conversation, but as I was walking away, the one kid said "see you in America!" in damn good English.
Here's what I'm driving at:
You can travel the whole world and find hundreds of millions of kids just like this - smart kids, living in poverty, trying to find their way through each day, yet clearly possessing an extraordinary curiosity about the rest of the world. Now mind you, I understand that much of this is driven by sheer economics - if this was your situation, and you had an inkling of the "fabulous life" people lived in these far off, exotic places, of course you'd be curious.
But what strikes me as odd, is that the residents of these far off, exotic lands (like you and me) often have so little curiosity about the world beyond there borders (whether actual borders or socio-economic borders)
How is it that those of us with the means, the knowledge, and the time to become better acquainted with our fellow man are the first ones to put up the fence, build the wall, hide the kids, and hope that we don't ever have to encounter the "ugliness" of the "other"?
Again, I understand that rational interplay between "economics" and personal safety is at play here - we've got a lot, "they" have nothing, and we assume that if we seek "them" out, we will be robbed, beaten, killed, etc. or at least feel very guilty for thinking we will be robbed, beaten, killed, etc.
But once again, I don't think its that simple. I can see a clear line drawn between the kids in Lima, and a 12-year old in Pakistan chanting "Death to America", just as I can see a clear line drawn between a well-off Californian family who avoids, Mexican-food, Mexicans, and heaven forbid ever taking a few hours drive to the country on the other side of the border and the American family I met in Namibia who were in the midst of a 3 month back-packing trip through 5 African countries.
Its all a matter of curiosity trumping fear, tapping into what I always thought was one of mankind's better innate drives - the desire to explore.
The question I pose at the end of this little essay is: what kindles or kills that innate drive? Is it culture, education, opportunity, or something else?
I'd like to think that the more we ask these questions, the more we might encourage a little more curiosity in ourselves and about ourselves. One can only hope...
Stay interested folks...
M
