The World: big and SMALL

As the sun sets on the Yokohama harbor, city lights glisten in the chilled evening air. They stand as a symbol of the modernization Japan has sought to achieve over the past few decades. It’s also a reminder of the fast paced world we will soon return. While initially the country was a welcomed relief, for being clean and orderly in comparison to the filth of Chennai’s streets and the constant nagging of the Cambodia’s exorbitant number of handicapped youth that we’ve become so familiar with, there was a longing that surfaced as I realized I was leaving that world behind. Once these next 12 days past, I would be sitting on the opposite side of the world freed from the realities that plague many corners of the earth.

I’ve been on a whirlwind world tour. 108 days, 14 countries, many friends made and many lessons learned. In January 732 other college students, some 50 staff and faculty, a dedicated international crew of nearly 200 and myself crowded the decks of the M.V. Explorer as we bid farewell to loved ones and a land we knew as home. What lay ahead was quite unknown, all that was certain was our eagerness to see the world.

After a night’s sleep of being rocked in bed by the sway of the ocean, I woke. I journeyed to the upper decks to greet the first rays of sun that brought light to my new home on the water. I remember how humbled I felt as I familiarized myself with the expanse of blue and a horizon undefined. Even on a ship accompanied by so many others, you begin to feel that your existence on this earth is little more than the mosquito buzzing in your ear. This was only the first day of a long ocean crossing, with nothing more than an ocean and a few gulls who had caught winds that landed them on our ship. Some days the water looks like glass that you could watch a pin fall on, others days the ship was struck with 40 foot waves as we made our way through the torrent waters of ocean storms. It’s moment like those that your realize that the real power lies not among humans but nature rather.

While on one hand you experience the smallness of your place in the world, the accomplishment of a circumnavigation highlights the confinement of all life on this earth. You realize that while rural life in the High Atlas Mountains may seem worlds away, we really are members of the same human family. And when you have the opportunity to meet people like Fidel Castro and Desmond Tutu who have had profound impacts on the lives of many, it makes the world feel a little smaller. They become neighbors, brothers and sisters rather than rulers and icons. From the AIDS devastated families of South Africa to the extravagant lives of those of us traveling the world; the world is all of ours. This is our small and fragile place, it’s our responsibility.