One of the best opportunities my parents gave me during my childhood was the ability to travel to different states and countries. At eight years old, I was able to go to Costa Rica and see the rainforest with my own eyes, while I simultaneously learned about how fast it was deteriorating as a result of human action. I got to see why it mattered and why I should care about it.

When I was fifteen, I traveled with my school orchestra to Mexico City where we stayed with host families and experienced an entirely new culture. At seventeen, I again traveled with my high school to Washington D.C. where I learned to appreciate democracy in action.

By the time I was eighteen, I had already lived with roommates from China, Korea, Ecuador, Austria and Germany.

I appreciated my parents for giving me those opportunities at the time, but now, I thank them for a much greater reason. I thank my parents because they gave me the opportunity to appreciate places and people that were different from me.

Traveling made me appreciate the immensity of the world and the diversity amongst its inhabitants. I don’t think everyone has that opportunity—the opportunity to truly appreciate something completely different from them.

To many people fail to see that the world is bigger than what they can see. Too many people see something different and they’re afraid of it, when they could love it and cherish it for that same reason.

In The Innocents Abroad/Roughing it Twain opined, “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.”

I found this quote particularly important because of the racist behavior on social media which has been happening at universities all across the country.

To many people aren’t appreciating the variety of cultures around the world, and I think that’s in part because they haven’t seen a different view of the world before. So I propose the solution to small-minded thinking is to travel.

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new sights, but looking with new eyes,” stated Marchel Proust.

One of the most important things traveling can do for you is to help you gain important perspectives. It helps you to humbly realize that the world is so much bigger than your perspective of it. Traveling gives you empathy to the suffering that occurs around the world. When you travel, you start to see how much you have taken for granted in your daily life. Traveling helps you find your purpose.

If you don’t take risks, you’ll never truly discover who you truly are. Remember, “you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” according as Wayne Gretzky constantly reiterates

By traveling, you leave your comfort zone. You’re pushed into situations that seem uncomfortable like finding your way in a country where you don’t know the native language, or meeting people with vastly different lifestyles than your own. Traveling empowers you and encourages you to take on new challenges.

I stayed with a host family when I traveled to Mexico City, and the parents of the family couldn’t speak English. I unfortunately couldn’t speak Spanish, so the couples’ children translated to help us communicate. Despite the fact we couldn’t speak the same language, they were some of the most welcoming people I’ve ever met in my life. They opened their home to me and made sure I was comfortable during my entire stay. A language barrier didn’t affect their ability to be kind at all. I greatly admire them for that.

Every place has a story—a way that it came to be the way that it is. Education is one of the most beneficial outcomes of travel out there. It helps someone develop cultural sensitivity. Awareness of cultural values and norms can help us understand international issues and conflicts, and it helps us relate to those who are different from us at home.

While traveling can help us understand each other, it’s not enough to prevent prejudice and racist behavior by itself. However, the experience shows us that we all want the same things in life.

It has been said perfectly, “Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends,” as Maya Angelou once said.

Liz Kacher is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected]