“I’d have to delay the trip if I do,” I responded.
“Why don’t you study first then go for your trip?”
“My priority is still the trip. I also hope to use the trip to find out what I’d want to do for my post-grad.”
There is a Chinese saying that goes, “读万卷书不如行万里路”. It is better to travel ten thousand miles than to read ten thousands books. Some lessons are better learnt by seeing and believing instead of merely reading from books.
I see travelling is another form of education, just that it is not attested by physical paper certification that employers seeks but attested by the wisdom gained for personal growth. Not assessed by semestral exams but assessed by the daily unknown and obstacles faced. A wholesome education should not only develop the hard skills but also soft skills that encompass certain character traits.
Empathy, compassion, tolerance and understanding are a few of these traits. These traits can only be fostered if we break out of our comfort zone and long-held beliefs, keeping an open-mind and learning about others. Be it conflicts on the global scale, national scale, family scale, office scale, how often were conflicts initiated due to lack of understanding and tolerance? It doesn’t help that human have the inclination to see differences rather than similarities.
“War is hardly about battle between good and evil. It is about one’s belief against another’s belief.” – Sadhguru.