When you meet someone new or hear of a famous person for the first time, what questions about him or her pop into your mind? What do you want to know about someone to determine whether they go into your YES, NO, or MAYBE column? Do you want to hear more about this person to determine if you have any more questions or if you know all you want or need to know about this human being?
Far from a simpleton, my mother took one look at John Fitzgerald Kennedy and knew she had a Presidential candidate. To her daughters, she openly admitted, “He’s so attractive. I know he’d make a good candidate.” Even his Catholicism didn’t sway her. After all, Mom’s father was Catholic and had taken little Anne to his church until she was six. Anne knew she could live with a Catholic President as long as he was attractive. We all have our criteria for acceptance or rejection of people, no matter how far from valid our choices may appear.
At the age of five, I hopped aboard my first train and shortly thereafter, my first airplane, back in the days when everyone “dressed up” to travel. Several decades later, I snagged a job as American rep for an Irish horse sales company based in County Kildare, and from that point on, Ihappily jumped on a plane whenever the opportunity arose, albeit in my native country or those of disparate nationalities whose upbringing, customs, and day-to-day circumstances differed, sometimes radically, from mine. Being confronted with ideas sometimes radically opposite frommine was a real eye-opener for this gal from smalltown Western Kentucky.
At that point the word “worldview” worked its way into my vocabulary, not in any kind of snobbish way, but in an intriguing, “Gosh, how do you know that?” kind of way. I soon realized that when I met folks with what seemed a broad worldview, I almost always learned something from them. And as the years rolled by, we often found surprising commonalities. From life experience at that age, I determined that the broader the worldview, the more likely a person is to know the truth of a situation or situations and the more likely he is to be able to converse or get along easily with people of varied backgrounds.
FYI, the term worldview refers to someone’s set of answers to all the big questions of life.Whatever those may be for each individual. Is there a supreme being – i.e. God – in charge of us all and the whole shebang…or not? What ethical duty does one human have to another? What’s behind man’s inhumanity to man? How do we know certain things and/or concepts are true…or not?
People’s worldviews influence every part of their lives. How you answer the important questions of existence will inform how you behave in your daily life. Additionally, defining your personal worldview will also give you a far deeper source of meaning and understanding than you would be able to attain if you never attempted to answer these basic existential questions.You can rest assured that keeping an open mind while in the midst of a deep, relevant discussionwill lead to learning. As will reading a broad spectrum of literature, and I reiterate, as will travel.
Several examples follow of instances while traveling that were worldview-broadeningpersonally and furnished fodder for great travel stories as well.
On a media tour of Portugal our group was given an afternoon off to explore. I headed to a beach in Cascais that we’d passed earlier. Brightly painted fisherman’s boats bobbing in the baycreated a perfect photo op. So I shed my shoes, slid my toes into the sand, and snapped away.
Engrossed in looking through the lens, I didn’t notice a large, black dog barreling toward me. Not until the friendly Portuguese Water dog careened into me and I tumbled onto the sand, laughing. After a few minutes of play, the curly pup let me know he wanted me to follow him. And he led me to a red, blue, and green wooden fishing boat, where a handsome, outdoorsy-looking man sat mending a net. Looking up, he flashed a welcoming smile when he saw his dog leading me. Though he spoke no English and I, no Portuguese, we ended up “chatting” for about 20 minutes. We laughed a lot, and somehow, “understood” each other.
Why would an encounter with a Portuguese fisherman and his dog broaden my worldview?The incident gave me a tiny bit of insight into another culture completely different than my own, and made me feel a kind of bond, as if I had an emotional investment in Portugal, a country other than my own.
A case of food poisoning led me to the same sort of bond on my first visit to Ireland while in my 30s. Hired as an American rep for an Irish racehorse sales company, I spent a day on my own in Dublin and lunched on what turned out to be “bad” crab. Montezuma took revenge all afternoon and I was beyond ready for a toes-up. In the late afternoon, a coworker finally picked me up but needed to stop on the way back to my lodging. Ireland is a friendly place and when business was over, our host offered us tea and scones. When he noticed I wasn’t eating, he asked if I was unwell, and though embarrassed, I told him the issue.
“Ah, I’ve just the thing for ya,” he said, pouring me a snifter of Courvoisier. Surprisingly, my belly soon settled so completely that we stayed for a luscious dinner. Turns out liquor eases belly cramps beautifully. Irish medicine did the trick. Who knew? I wouldn’t have had I not had that experience. This incident left me with a positive memory about an unusual occurrence and a feeling of gratitude to a helpful Irishman
As your worldview broadens over time, remember the importance of respecting how other people might come to completely different conclusions about these huge questions than you.We’re all individuals with different opinions. Assuming you’re always right and having to prove that will never win anyone over to your views, if that’s your goal.
American travel writer and television host Rick Steves’ favorite place to travel is India, he says, “because it rearranges my cultural furniture. It humbles me.”
In other words, India always broadens his worldview and wraps his mind around overall truths. Keep an open mind and your worldview will grow and serve you well.
