Dear Young Explorer | Harry Alvarez
Dear Young Explorer,
This too shall pass. At 34, for the first time in my life, I'm starting to feel the “wisdom” that comes with age. It comes from having graduated from college in the midst of the last recession and seeing, in retrospect, that we did find jobs and build successful careers. I still remember walking home to the Bronx from my high school in Spanish Harlem on September 11th, 2001, with the cloud of smoke behind me, thinking that the world was ending. Eventually life did go back to normal — even if it was a new normal. It’s with the luxury of having these events in my rear view mirror that I say “this too shall pass.” And I’ll be honest: the only reason I have that “wisdom” is because I've taken a few more trips around the sun. There is nothing, and everything, special about time.
I’m scared. It’s hard going out for a walk with my son to the surreal reality of people walking around with masks, cashiers working from within plexiglass cubes, police patrolling green spaces, etc. The whole thing is absolutely not normal. In no way, shape or form. At all. But fear does not need to be debilitating. We can operate under a cautious profile. After all, that’s what fear is for: it's an evolutionary adaptation designed to help us operate more efficiently during tough situations. We have to harness it and help it bring out the best of humanity. Right now, it’s the time to shine all the positive light you have to put out there. Together that light will help guide us out of this. So be the shoulder to cry on, help your neighbors, and do right by people.
Some see travel, globalization, and other things that connect us across national borders as a cause of this pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic is not bringing to light the issues with an ever-connected globalized world. The pandemic isn’t caused by that connectedness. It is that connectedness that’s allowing us to overcome the impact of COVID-19. It’s our ability to connect with friends and family across the world through the internet that’s keeping us sane through social distancing. And it’s that connectedness which is bringing countries, governments, municipalities, and industries from every segment of daily life together to develop a vaccine, share research, coordinate mitigation efforts, and care for the most vulnerable through this situation. It is that connectedness that will unite us to become a better version of ourselves. It is the better side of our humanity which we need to lean into. In having compassion for our neighbors, in doing what we can do to contribute (even if that means sitting at home), and in being the best version of ourselves. It will be even more important now to stretch out our hands across countries and learn about one another.
Having to navigate through different languages, cultures, and daily realities also leads to grit, empathy, and a sense of community. These are the lessons that students, both young and old, learn when they participate in a homestay, contribute to a community impact project, or take a long drive through new landscapes in a new country. It was not until my adult life that I began to call any of my childhood trips to the Dominican Republic “real travel.” It took me going to Costa Rica and experiencing a new culture for me to realize that the benefits of travel are ingrained in who I am. I made a career of travel and made a commitment to continue exploring and pushing my boundaries. Because it is at the edge of our comfort zone that we learn the most. I’ve learned about the value of community and the benefits of cross cultural collaboration.
Last week, I was on a call with 10 colleagues and friends from countries around the world discussing the pandemic's impact on our businesses, our communities, and our families, and learning from each other. What I experienced was true listening and learning, and the humility and respect that comes with operating in true cross-cultural spaces. I’ve learned that diversity makes us stronger because it offers us more points of view from which we can draw. And that the world is an ever-connected place where decisions made on one continent can have a drastic effect on communities across the world. It is only through learning about other cultures, customs, and realities that we can create space for us to collaborate. When we collaborate as a global community and trust one another’s perspectives as unique and equally valuable, the sky’s the limit.
Harry Alvarez
Director, Inbound Travel
