I came across a really cool quotation on Instagram while I was at the gym the other day.
WAIT, DON’T STOP READING YET! Yes, I know that Instagram is the Grand Poobah of misinformation, but
before you click away, hang in there with me for a just a little bit longer.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad
For whatever reason, those two sentences resonated. And it was interesting to me that someone so firmly
entrenched as either a crotchety crank or a dry humorist could express such optimism, especially in a book that is essentially a travelogue. I mean, this is the same guy who came up with these gems:
- “The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.”
- “Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination.”
- “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society.”
But there is a bit of romance and a good deal of hope in those two sentences about travel and it’s nice to hear that coming from a confirmed grouch. One wonders if Samuel Clemens was actually the curmudgeon and the optimist came out only when Mr. Twain took pen to paper.
Anyways, it started me thinking, and when you’re stuck on the treadmill, there’s not much to do other than let your mind wander or bingewatch Yellowstone. So I opted to let my mind wander. As I was “noodling,” it occurred to me that the open-mindedness implied by young Master Clemens can touch all aspects of life. Yes, it applies to physical travel–sometimes it’s nice to get lost in a new city!–but the concept of trying new things can influence so many other areas. For example, at the dinner table: my mom used to say “You don’t have to eat the whole thing, but you do have to take a ‘polite bite’.” While I concede that there have been some steamboat-sized fiascos associated with that mantra (nacho-flavored grasshoppers from an Atlanta brewery come to mind), at least I cannot be accused of lacking a sense of adventure.
Our last family trip, I was struck by how much my kids gain by exposure to the new. We only went to Los Angeles for a quick weekend–tagging along for my husband’s work trip. I enjoy travel and experiencing new things, but I would not say that it is my driving force. I am an executor and immensely practical: I can work a schedule like nobody’s business. That’s a good thing: accomplishing is good…yet it is easy to be lost in efficiency. After all, life is about the journey, not the destination. The funny thing about kids is that sometimes you CAN’T be efficient–especially with airport-fed, jet-lagged kids. There was one afternoon that we rode the Angel’s Flight funicular incline railway seven times. The train goes up the hill…and down the hill over the course of 1 city block for 50 cents/ride. Up and down we went, for a full hour and a half. I kept trying to get them to go to the market and get ice cream or do something (ANYTHING) else, until I realized that that was the first time they had ever been on an open air train. They were delighted to feel the bumps and and hear the screeches of the rails. It was a lightbulb moment that enabled me to see the world through their lens and reminded me of how much my kids and I have yet to see and learn about (and from). What discoveries await!
Our next big excursion is to Italy, so no doubt I’ll return with all kinds of stories. And in the meantime, I’m looking for some more opportunities to try something new at home. Like Mark Twain said, “Eat whatever you like and let them fight it out inside.”
Just no more nacho grasshoppers.
