I was sitting in line to cross the border into Canada recently, a little bored, so I started flipping through my passport reminiscing about where I’ve been when I discovered this quote from Ellison S. Onizuka on the very last page: “Every generation has the obligation to free men’s minds for a look at new worlds … to look out from a higher plateau than the last generation,” (He was the first Asian American and the first person of Japanese origin to reach space. Sadly, he died in the Challenger explosion.)
It got me thinking about new worlds and the trip I’ve embarked on. I’ve always wanted to see Alaska. My brother, quite the traveler, has been many times. He says it’s life-changing. He’s older so it’s in my nature to believe him. He supports his opinion with words like expansive, enormous, breathtaking and wild. Ok, maybe wild is my word, but it’s a good one and I think he’d use it, too.
Anyway, as I sat waiting to cross the border, in our moving-through-space RV,, Mr. Ozunika’s words were bouncing around my brain and I realized just how germane his thought was to my desire to see Alaska.
Here’s what I love about traveling. It reminds me of how my life is really so similar to someone’s in Wyoming or Montana or Canada and, soon Alaska. As a traveler I’m on the sidelines of people’s lives, especially traveling in an RV. When you park next to someone in a campground even for just one night, if you’re open to it, you can hear their story. Campground mates are convenient friends. I love that. After just a few minutes of getting-to-know each other it’s clear that their lives are not too dissimilar to mine. Kids, jobs, travel stories … we’re sharing what’s important to us, finding that common thread that creates a connection, no longer strangers. Traveling creates this type of connection over and over … talking to a hiker along a trail or a cashier at the grocery store; getting information at a visitor center or local lore from a waiter.
Circling back around to my starting point to this introspection — “…to free men’s minds for a look at new worlds … .” It occurred to me sitting at the border crossing that new worlds are right in front of us all the time. They don’t have to be as far away as outer space, or even Alaska. We just have to free our minds to see them and the people we meet along the way “from a higher plateau” of understanding.
Hmmm … and actually my brother probably wouldn’t use the adjective wild. He doesn’t like it when I put words in his mouth. It’s an older brother younger sister thing!