30 - Culture

Poras Chaudhary - Myshot/National Geographic

I wrote about travel yesterday, so it’s only fitting that today I write about one of travel’s most attractive features: culture.

I’m a sucker for reading up on and better understanding the many different cultures this world has to offer.

Diversity is humanity’s greatest strength, in my opinion, and it warms my heart to see people all over the world approach life with a variety of beliefs, customs, and traditions.

Celebrations, music, art, food, fashion, language, history - all sorts of different threads contributing to the fabric of the human experience, many of which I’d like to explore personally.

For whatever reason, it’s usually during this time of year when I’m most tuned into the world at large, and feel like I’m part of a global energy; a universal wavelength that touches us all, if we’re open to it.

Maybe it’s the holiday season itself. The fact that tomorrow, we’ll watch how every major country on Earth celebrates the new year. Even though we’re varied in our celebrations, the fact we all do celebrate brings us closer together, and shows us we’re more alike than we often realize.

And really, that’s the beauty, and paradoxical weirdness of culture. Cultures vary, but at their core, they’re the same. Caribbean island music might not sound like American rock - but both are forms music, created by musicians. European art may not resemble Japanese art, but both were created by prodigious painters and sculptors. Indian cuisine may not taste anything like Latin American cuisine, but they share the shame basic premise many ethnic cuisines share - that a country’s food is part of their cultural identity, and cooking said food, and eating said food with friends and family, can bring you closer together.

So while I love to celebrate our differences, and see such differences as a reason for me to travel and experience them firsthand to the fullest - it also brings me a sense of joy when I realize that at our core, we’re all the same; no matter what cultures or subcultures we identify with. At the end of the day, we’re all human.