Every time I've wanted to blog about our travel experiences, I read about something horrific happening in the world, and my thoughts dry up. How can I write about something that seems so unimportant after reading about the massacre at Pulse in Miami or the bombing in Turkey? How do I share my insights, although important to me because they are a part of me, when they are so insignificant compared with matters of life and death? Today I was finally ready to sit down and blog about Borneo when I read about the stabbing/shooting of a man headed to his mosque in Houston. As if that isn't bad enough, the article said that this is the THIRD incident in Houston. Really???!!!! Come on, People, we are better than this!
The strongest impression I have while traveling is that we are all human beings going through life's journey. Yes, there are differences between us, but the bottom line is that we are all human. Why isn't this enough to make us have respect for one another, to be OK with disagreeing with each other's ideas, without having to resort to hatred and violence?
At the beginning of my teaching career, I worked with fifth graders. I remember creating a unit about sharks to teach the idea that people fear, and even hate, what they don't understand. I tied this unit into the need to educate oneself about matters that one does not understand. It was my hope that my students would grow up to ask questions and find answers and learn and be more accepting and understanding as a result.
Right now, we are in Malaysian Borneo. Malaysia is predominantly Muslim, and the celebration of Ramadan is happening as I type this. We've seen hundreds and hundreds of people traveling to be with their families to celebrate. They all seem very excited, and the atmosphere at the airport was one of festivity and eagerness. This reminded me so much of when Eric and I fly home to be with our families at Christmas. There was that same level of energy. As I looked at all the happy activity around me, it frustrated me that so many people out there lump all Muslims in with ISIS....or that any group gets lumped together with any kind of negativity.
We have seen very few Americans on our travels this time. Never once have I felt worried that I was out of place or in any kind of danger for being different. We have found most people to be extremely friendly, genuine, and helpful. Even when Eric threw up violently going through airport security in Kuala Lumpur, the agents were kind and sympathetic. Both of us thought for sure that they were going to quarantine Eric, but they just waved us through. When I made a feeble attempt to try to clean things up, they told me not to worry about it. I'm 100% sure that they were not happy about the situation, but I could see an understanding, an "another foreigner with traveler's stomach" look on their faces.
We also experienced some difficulty clearing immigration in Shanghai, China, but we were always treated very respectfully. I had only brought an electronic copy of our itinerary to show that we would be leaving Shanghai within the 144-hour limit. I did not realize that they required a paper copy. The problem was that the itinerary was on my gmail account, and gmail is banned in China, so I could not pull it up to print it out. Instead of detaining or deporting us, or even getting flustered with us, the agents worked from their end to try to help us. Thankfully, a college student heard our problem and shared her phone with us. It had a vpn on it which enabled us access to the itinerary.
The highlight of Shanghai for me was a morning spent in Fuxing Park, watching hundreds of people enjoying life through tai chi, or ballroom dancing, or water calligraphy, or kite flying, or sword dancing, or playing badminton....Hundreds of people were gathered in the park doing what they loved. It was simple. They did not get in each other's way, which you would think would happen with so many people. It was an area filled with joy. And this is a daily occurrence in Shanghai.
Today we spent an hour talking with the docent at the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Center. At times I was disgusted with humanity for the way we treat the natural world, destroying it for profit or products that we really don't need. But even stronger was the sense of hope I felt. There are good people out there trying to make a difference. In fact, when I think about it, there are mostly good people out there. In our travels this is what we see, mostly the good.
In spite of theses times when too many lives have been hurt by violence, by political uncertainty, by corruption, I hope to hold onto the goodness I see and read about. And I hope when others encounter Eric and me, we leave a positive impression on them. Probably not those agents at the KL airport, but hopefully everyone else. Hopefully they see that we are not so different from them.
