A Bridge to Everywhere

Photo by Helene Lohr, Navajo Bridge, AZ, 2010

I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within. ~Lillian Smith

Travel is a bridge to everywhere. Not just to the spaces on the other end of the road. Not just through the woods and across the ocean. If we let it, it can be a bridge that reaches within as well as outwards into the world. If we live it, if we dare to truly experience other places, other people, other languages and cultures with an open mind we must expand our way of thinking.

As your mouth hesitantly tries out the slippery syllables of a new language, as you roll a new taste across your tongue, as your eyes drink in the world around you, you become wider, larger, simply more, than you were a moment before. The adventure is not simply “out there” but also within yourself.

Truly letting yourself experience the world around you will inevitably open you up to different ways of thinking, of questioning lifelong assumptions, of realizing that not only could you be wrong, but that you often are. Tolerance, understanding and an odd peace take root in your soul. If you’re lucky you can tap into that understanding in the future. Travel can be a bridge to everywhere… if you let it.