I am….. (tourist.student.human.suffering traveler.)

I wrote a letter about the pain of being a traveler, the way that observing suffering hurts the heart and the mind. The inevitability of the imprint left by these experiences. Today, on the topic of observing, I am attempting to change my own mind, to sharpen my thinking and to do so for a greater purpose.

For years I have hated being a tourist. In the last months in Argentina I have been trying to reconcile, rather deny, the fact that, yes, I am a … a… tourist. (dagger to the heart). I have written three blog drafts, unable to admit this, hoping I could wiggle my auto-definition as something more, bigger, deeper, better. But the reality is, even my passport has a fat “90 day tourist” stamp on the nice bald eagle painted pages. Sure I am studying, doing a cool research project, living as much of my life in Spanish as possible, but the Argentine government, my classmates, friends and the waiter at the cafe all know that I AM A TOURIST.

unhappily so.
thankful.
but discontent.

What’s so wrong with tourism? 

• “the modern tourist is just a passive onlooker who seeks to enjoy the extravagantly strange from the security of the familiar.” (Daniel Boorstin)
• “tourists… the very places they patronize are destroyed by their affection.” (Thir Shah)
• “To be a tourist is to escape accountability. Errors and failings don’t cling to you the way they do back home. You’re able to drift across continents and languages, suspending the operation of sound thought. Tourism is the march of stupidity. ” (Don Delillo)

Tourism is destructive as we dehumanize those we capture with our iPhones and our Fujifilm FinePix. We upload them and take them home, nameless, as a display of how “cultured” or “well traveled” we are. Sure, not so poor of intentions, we are excited tourists, curious and easily amazed. But when we stop at this level of tourism (without thinking, relating, staying)  it is destructive. However… when we start at tourism I think we can go somewhere beautiful, meaningful, good. So, with much thought… I propose a progression of possibility:

THE PROGRESSION

1.  We come: as tourists, blessed to have an opportunity to travel, experience, watch, wander. We do the march of stupidity: lost, helpless, amused. We go to the places we’ve heard of, try new foods, buy strange trinkets and journal our mind-changing, self formative moments.
   It’s easy to get stuck at step 1…. but we MUST continue.

    

2. We think: as students, as beings who have been given intellect, imagination. We think about what it means. all of it. it’s horrifically overwhelming and uncomfortable to be faced with the implications of what we start to unravel, to recognize the power complexes and historical remnants of what we have “toured.” At this juncture we become engaged tourists
   But thinking more does not absolve me. It prepares me for more….

    

3. We relate: life itself is designed for relationships. Without relationships we are robotic: trampling earth. we are animals: chasing fleeting fleshly desires. we are tourists: photographing pain without relating to the lives that are unfolding in front of us. Being human means we are also selfish. so we have to very intentionally take the scary step of relating to others outside of our comfort zone: with humility and with open hearts, more open than our camera lenses, more open then our journals or our mouths. Open hearts. We become more than a consumer and that Bolivian man becomes more than a vendor. That child becomes more than a beggar as we become more than a bank. We give humanity to those around us as we relate human to human. letting the reality of the suffering hit us full force. Neglecting to turn away.
   and yet, the real leap comes between being respectful and being risky. long term risky.

    

4. So we stay: we move in. we become a neighbor. we quit tourism for something greater. we start putting the philosophical  observations into practical problem solving. we trade the distant studying for close care taking. I am reconciling the fact that this is where it’s at. INVESTING. We begin the process of interchanging, interrelating, interwoven lives that heal brokenness and revive locations of death and suffering. In humility we consider others better than ourselves and lay down our lives for our neighbors, friends and family to know the truth. The truth of their worth, the truth of the hope of restoration, the truth of God’s deep love and transformative power. We plant ourselves in a place where we can speak with understanding with awareness because we have observed. We grow in a way of mutual and collaborative living. Giving and receiving. 

I haven’t forgotten. the point still remains. this process is the ideal. It’s not unreachable if we are reliant of the love of Jesus and His power to save and restore at all angles. I am attempting to change my own mind, sharpen my own thinking and live more rightly. I am not satisfied. I AM A TOURIST. But I refuse to stop there.