Ponder: venturing beyond

I was about to write a post about having changed (inside) so much that I can't recognize myself from even 6 months ago. But that's for another time.

The past several months, I've yearned deeply for doing things that I now see are important--not just for me, but for my sons. For one, I regret not saving more money (although we are already very frugal), or at least pursuing paid work much earlier to earn more money to travel more. Not for grand overseas shopping trips, but at the very least to afford visiting family in the Philippines regularly, and doing smaller trips to other undiscovered destinations in the countryside here in Australia or in the Philippines. 

We've been here in Sydney for more than 6 years now, and we haven't really gone beyond our state.  Our life runs with the highs and lows of a particular neighborhood or geographic collective, which to be honest, can be very myopic.

In the blink of an eye, soon my boys will be grown men. That's how fast I felt the past 6 years go by.

As I look on, I see my boys' world getting smaller; our world also getting smaller. It's one thing to be active in the school or community where we belong; to breathe in and live whatever ethos it has. But it also sacrifices vision, imagination, empathic thinking. Even with images of famine-stricken Somalians on tv, of poverty afflicting people, or of environmental degradation elsewhere, it doesn't mean anything to my sons unless they've seen something similar up close, appreciated another culture or way of life, walked across an entirely different landscape, or; pained by seeing the poverty of others.

How could my sons desire to contribute to a better world when their own worldview is limited? How could they want to make use of the opportunities on offer, and choose an occupation, hobby or community that will more enrich their own growth and also strive to serve others? Travel and the chance for new experiences allow us to venture beyond what we know; it can affirm many things we suspect to be true all along or debunk some ideas we hold on to.

At the end, we learn from experience--and it's not Disneyland I'm talking about. We learn from really jumping into the mess, the unfamiliar, the discomfort and even pain. The journey I've been on the last couple of years made me realize that one truly learns by experiencing it for him/herself, and no amount of self help books/seminars, daily nagging, or top notch education will do that for you. One becomes convinced of the truth of something when you feel it and are confronted by it. Living fully and learning much more require experiences that allow one to taste and feel and then ponder.

I realize that a family really needs very little and very simple things.  The stuff we outfit our life with can't really be taken with us if the world ends tomorrow. And often, family life requires that things change, that the rhythm of growth makes stuff outlive its usefulness. We need to be less grasping and clingy; we need to grow in openness and surrender. These are travel's gifts.

Map above is taken from what looks to be an amazing tour from Tao Philippines.