Privileged or poorer
Perhaps one of the best things about the current state of governance in the more privileged nations of the world is the lesson we can all learn about the vulnerability of some of the notions that so many of us take for granted. Why would anyone want to regard the politicians running nations such as the USA or the UK as wiser than those at the helm in poorer countries? The proof of the pudding is surely in the eating.
Making the most of things wherever we find ourselves is probably the most suitable course of action. George Orwell famous dictum from Animal Farm springs to mind here – “all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”. One can aspire towards a lifestyle that appears to be more pleasurable on the surface only to be led up a garden path, to stumble into a ditch.
This doesn’t mean that one shouldn’t be curious to see what the rest of the world looks like. A sense of adventure can help us to learn more about the state of being alive, so we can return to our own spaces and aim to fine tune aspects of what we’re about. This is one of the main benefits of travelling, in my opinion.
Social media platforms such as Instagram can sometimes be distracting in unhealthy ways. Who really knows the stories behind the artfully images that many folks post on there?
I posted a few photos of the penultimate day I spent in Zanzibar on my profile page and they looked like I had spent most of my time there lounging about on pristine beaches, in front of an incredibly blue sea. In actual fact, those photos were taken on my only day off while I was there. Most of the time was spent either rehearsing or planning to present a work in progress performance of a new music theatre piece that I’m composing. Each of us knows within ourselves the things that give us the most pleasure.
