PixelatedImage Blog

3 posts today, including November’s wallpaper -so keep reading…

Ok, I’m back. Strung-out on jet-lag but conscious enough to have dug through some of my gigantic pile of emails and errands. I head to Nairobi in 3 weeks and am already wondering how to get it all done. I’m thrilled – I love these trips for World Vision – but this has become a really busy fall. Speaking of traveling…

I got some fun emails and comments about my rant concerning tourists and travelers. Thanks for the nice comments. Seems I hit a nerve. I think y’all know it’s all in fun, with some cynicism thrown in for good measure. But as they say in comedy: it’s funny because it’s true. Mostly. Not all tourist/travelers behave badly, not all Americans wear goofy shorts and vests.

The question posed is “how SHOULD you act?” and I have a simple answer – with sincerity, kindness, and a keen awareness of the culture through which you are traveling.

Walking through the muslim neighborhood of Old Delhi during Ramadan and munching a hoagie in front of fasting muslims? Not cool. Strolling through a modest Tibetan neighborhood in a a sexy halter top and shorts? Not cool. Just because discount airline tickets will take you cheaply anywhere in the world no more means you should do so insensitively than the fact that my front door is open means you can walk in and pee on my carpet. Their home, their rules. And it is up to us to learn those rules and respect them. Respect means you look for cultural cues and follow them. Do some research, ask some questions. Refusing to do so is not only lazy but arrogant and ethnocentric.

Should you try to “fit in”? Sure, but it’s not necessary. I can go to Tunisia and dress like a Tunisian – it wouldn’t stop me from sticking out like a sore thumb. In fact, it might draw more stares. Just be you – a culturally-sensitive version of you. You can’t fool people into thinking you’re not a visitor, so be a visitor – but dress modestly, don’t flash your bling or your flesh, and then – here’s the hard part – get over yourself. You’re there to experience, to relate, not to impress. At the same time, this trend of dressing down – so down you look like the love child of John the Baptist and a free-lovin’ hippy-gal from Woodstock (not that John the Baptist would fall for such a woman) – is disrespectful to those you’re visiting. If you show up at my door looking like a bum, and you aren’t actually a bum, I’ll get the impression you don’t respect me; whether I am correct or not is hardly the point, the damage is done. It’s about perception.

As far as how we treat each other on the road – same deal. With kindness. I’m not saying we have to greet everyone we pass, Lord knows we don’t do it in this culture. I’m just saying a little respect would go along way and would mean at least occassionally we’d smile and nod. You are not the only one who has travelled, lo, these many miles, so let’s not act like it. Heck, sitting with another traveller for a cup of chai is one of the pleasures of the road. In the end, the kind of person you are is most visible when you leave home and walk foreign paths. Kindness, respect, and a curious spirit sit much better on us than arrogance and unapproachability. I won’t even address the issue of tourists who still feel that “different” is “wrong.”

*In a wierd case of synchronicity (the phenomenon, not the best-selling album) Matt Brandon is posting a three-part series on just this kind of think – read his take on being a cultural insider HERE.