Personally, I think it's a stinking shame that we don't do that anymore. And I think it's an even bigger, even stinkier shame that no one seems to "beweep their outcast state" (Shakespeare anyone?).
What really irritates me( even though it's not my buisness to care) is when some people act superior when I bring this sort of thing up, seeing as they've been places I haven't. That in itself is mostly okay, because if our places were switched, I'd probably be gloating too. But what isn't okay is when I ask for stories of Paris, or Budapest, or Prague, or Seoul, and they have nothing meaningful to say. Oh, sure, they'll mention their surprise at finding a McDonald's so far away from home, or that the shopping was great. Yeah, the Eiffel Tower's huge. Looks nice at night. Really? Come on...
I said in an earlier post that schools and parents should emphasize the importance of learning world history in addition to the history of whatever country you're from. I also mentioned the value of art, all kinds of art. Because without such knowledge, it isn't hard to see how people might be satisfied with the occasional watered down visit peppered with tourist traps. How can anyone appreciate beauty until they've seen the Slovenian Alps in autumn? What is the grandeur of anything compared to that of the Roman Colosseum, collapsing beneath Time? As an American born to Chinese immigrants, visiting China breaks my heart, and to see the polarization between the well-off (not necessarily rich, only financially comfortable) and the impoverished is shocking. A person cannot hope to live a full and cultured life without being tested by poverty, corruption, beauty, and history.
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| Farmhouse at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains, Romania |
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| Johannesburg, South Africa |
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| Abruzzi, Italy |
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| Russian State Library in Moscow, Russia |
Stupidity is not a sin, but ignorance ought to be. Thanks for reading,
~Cynthia~
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