Under the Same Sky

Shanghai Micky D's"The people of each country get more like the people of every other country. They have no charm, no beauty, no ideals, no culture--nothing, nothing."

These words, spoken by Kit as she vented her frustrations regarding the destructivity of war, made me pause. While they were offered up very candidly, wearily, and perhaps even lacking in conviction, a piece of them rings very true in the modern world. 

While large chunks of the population may remain ignorant, sheltered or sequestered, it can be easily argued that the people of today's world are more cultured than they have ever been; and by "cultured," I simply mean they are more exposed to the various cultures of the world, in almost every aspect. Almost every American city offers its citizens and visitors everything from  a sometimes overwhelming array of world cuisine and music, to foreign films, plays, museums and garb. Even when abroad, it can be difficult to locate an "authentic" local restaurant amidst the multitude of Indian, Italian, French, and Chinese restaurants that cater to each and every palette. American music has infiltrated foreign pop charts, Indian henna has become a trendy and inexpensive "accessory," and you can't walk five feet down a New York City sidewalk without seeing a stand selling traditional "African" jewelry. All of this globalization is nice; it certainly helps us at least feel as though we are a part of the larger global community, as though we know a small something about life beyond our city or state or nation; but it comes at a cost.

Globalization is, obviously, a global happening; it is taking place everywhere, all the time. This "global happening" means we can eat hamburgers in Bengal and Gyros in Quebec City, and we can listen to Britney Spears in a marketplace in Mexico. Globalization is making travel easier - easier to facilitate, easier to adjust to and manage. But what happens when we want to eat Tandoori in Bengal and Poutine in Quebec? What happens when we want to hear Salsa music?  Isn't that what travel is all about, anyway? Experiencing something new, something unique to that particular place? So, what happens when that unique thing that we go in search of and travel for becomes commonplace,  or when we go traveling only to be greeted by what we already know? Some of the sense of adventure is lost when our destinations begin to resemble our places of departure; after all, we don't go exploring in search of the familiar. Globalization certainly makes travel easier - but at the cost of its excitement, and perhaps even at the price of the satisfaction derived from the act and art of travel.