Wise words from Rick

It is fitting that in today's paper is a column from Rick Steves on the virtues of travel,  here.

"Traveling thoughtfully, especially in challenging times, is one of the best ways to put current events in perspective. It forces you to see that global victims of poverty and natural disasters aren't just faceless staistics...but humans. You can't help but feel empathy."

As I pack (see below 😄) for a three-week adventure down the rivers of Europe, I am reminded how valuable travel is to thoughtful perspective and tolerance. It doesn't have to be a grand and glorious journey. I have always marveled at how even a short weekend in the other part of our state or across a state border widens my knowledge of how the world works. Sometimes it helps me cope with a problem or stress by the mere act of getting away from it. Traveling to the Southern U.S. - a whole other world from the Pacific NW  helps me understand - if not agree with - the existence of a wholly different perspective on the issues of the day. A reminder of assumptions incorrect. An opportunity to connect. A dependence on kindness of others (lost, anyone?). Partly because I am on the farther side of my life and partly because I am drawing the everyday details  of life around me, I am enjoying travel more and more every trip I take: I watch for new things, for the unusual or quirky, for children at play and grown-ups at coffee. Some things are the same elsewhere; some are quite different.

In an effort to procrastinate packing chores, I sketched: