Life As Performance Art 155

Here is a comment I wrote in response to something I saw on Yahoo last night about the fifty most popular tourist destinations in the world: "Meh...I have been to the British Museum and to the Zócalo in Mexico City. Both overrated. Really, this list just goes to show you how lacking in imagination are most people. They are so consumed with their banal little bucket lists, and too lazy to learn another language, too stupid to learn about another culture and too narcissistic to engage with the people who live in the countries they are visiting. Pathetic!" In my more charitable moments, I try to remember that many of those same tourists don't have the time, energy or attention span to do those things. Or, maybe they do. It is hard to say. But I really think that a lot of people don't even know where to start. This could be because, as I already mentioned, most people are just too narcissistic. It's all about filling and emptying your bucket list. We are not on this earth forever. And even though there are more of us than ever on this planet, we all seem to love each other even less. Or maybe the answer is already there, in the sentence. What is it that Sartre famously said about hell being other people? Or maybe that hell is other narcissists. Sartre, an existentialist philosopher, was also a famous atheist, and if you are an atheist, then you are not going to find much in the way of purpose, order, meaning, or cohesion, neither in the universe, nor in your own sad and insignificant little existence. You are going to see yourself and others just as a collection of molecules made somehow alive by hydrocarbons, masses of matter, and not even all the humanist values in our secular world are going to do a lot to make you actually love those lumps of matter, given that that kind of love is the very essence of the Being they refuse to believe in, the Being that made us and everything. The first cause and our ultimate destination. That's right, Gentle Reader, the G Word. GOD. Is this also to assume that religious people don't also have bucket lists, don't also practice consumer travel, also known as tourism? Of course they do. But that is because a lot of religious people, Christians anyway, aren't particularly imaginative either, and are just as likely to be seduced and brainwashed by this age of narcissism as anyone else. And it is also often atheist egghead intellectuals that write papers, make documentaries and produce podcasts and conduct public lectures and forums about the dangers and the awful sad reality of the narcissism and collective consumerism that seems to hold us all captive here. Go figure. But if you have a higher than average IQ, and like me, you find yourself on the dumb end of being a genius (140 in my case), and you also happen to be a Christian, like me, and also have a restless creative imagination, such as me, then look out folks because you aren't going to know what just hit you. I'm not bragging, Gentle Reader. Or not intentionally. I have never been interested in tourism. But I have long been interested in travel. I don't have a bucket list, but that could be because I already have and acknowledge being in a relationship with the God of Love, Jesus Christ, and for this reason I do not fear death. I have a friend who gave up his Christian faith a long time ago and has since lived in a state of terror of dying so he does everything he can to enjoy himself in this life, not knowing, and perhaps dreading, what might be awaiting him once he kicks the bucket. This I find to be both rather sad, and also very typical of so many people. My desire and the joy that I take in travel has very little to do with seeing certain sites or world heritage places or icons. This isn't to say that I don't enjoy them, but I also want to know something about the country, the culture and the people I happen to be visiting. Even in Costa Rica, where I was first attracted by the phenomenal cloud forest of Monteverde, where I have visited six times and will be seeing again in a few months for the seventh time. When I was in Costa Rica for the first time in 1994, my inability to communicate with the local people was enough to motivate me to learn Spanish, which also motivated me to travel further in Latin America. I have seen some lovely and interesting places. But for the most part, I am there for the people. Of course I enjoy seeing the cloud forest and the marvelous birds and other critters, but I have friends there, a family, especially the eldest son and his parents, and I expect to know them for a long time. They are lovely people. I have a friend in Colombia whom I will also be visiting. The attraction of Colombia? The Colombian people. They are lovely, as is my friend with whom I will be staying. I will likely also see some lovely and interesting places and sights, but it is the people that matter, knowing them, loving them and respecting them. That is why I like to travel, Gentle Reader.