"The true voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."
When I read this quote yesterday it immediately struck a cord with me. This is exactly why I have traveled. It is exactly why we want our children to experience other parts of the world and other cultures. When people ask us why we are moving to Egypt with our kids, we always respond by saying that we want to them to see the way other people live, but this quote is far more elegant in that statement. It is all about DEVELOPING NEW EYES!
Have you ever traveled? When you traveled did you explore the landscapes or the people? Did you investigate how other people lived, or did you take the pictures? I am not trying to make anyone feel bad because there is a time and a place for everything, and I can certainly say that on our last trip to Mexico I relaxed by the pool and took pictures and it was glorious! But, did I develop new eyes from that experience? Not really. Did I have a great vacation? Absolutely! But, the purpose of this move to Egypt is just that, a MOVE. It is not a vacation, or a quick trip to take the pictures. We will be living with and working with Egyptian people. We will be living in an area most tourists do not visit, although we will be 12 km's from where thousands of tourists trek daily. Will we take pictures of Egypt YES! But the most valuable thing that we will take from living in Egypt is seeing how people live...living with them. By doing this, our eyes will be open to different lifestyles and ways to go about things day to day.
By going into a new place with eyes wide open, you are open to developing a type of worldly empathy that makes a stronger person. It allows a person to step into another persons perspective with ease because they have had the opportunity to experience life on the other side. Will we ever be exactly like the people we live with? NO! And we know that, but to truly connect to the people we are working with and living with, we HAVE to try.
The true voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. As our adventure begins, I hope that our family is able to develop new eyes and have the ability to see things from the other side.
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