Home – Feb 2015

The gift of travel

One of the perks of my job has been the ability to travel the world, meeting so many interesting and passionate people. I feel truly blessed. While the job takes me away from my loved ones, my journeys have had an incredibly profound impact, hopefully making me a better father, husband, friend, and colleague. At least ‘a work in progress’.

How you might ask? In a word, my travels have taught me to appreciate people and cultures in all their glorious imperfections. Actually, appreciate is too soft. My travels have taught me to embrace, relish, and fall head over heels in love with the simple fact that we are all very, very different.

And, you know what? Those differences are ok. In fact, they are more than ok. They are what make the world the beautiful place it is. We all have different perspectives, different contexts, different experiences. Those differences have shaped us into the gloriously imperfect human beings we all are, my wife excluded.

Previously, these differences would have frustrated or scared me. Today, not so much. My visits to far off places have taught me to appreciate those differences. Not in some temporary way that exists before I am able to change their minds. Rather, as a place that exists in the present.

The net result is someone more at peace with differing views, more open to differing perspectives. My travels have allowed me to better appreciate the world from the eyes of both those who live across the ocean and across the hallway.

As you celebrate Valentine’s Day, consider giving the gift of travel to a loved one. Travel is not just a feast for the eyes and taste buds, it’s also a feast for the soul.

Doug Wotherspoon

VP International and Strategic Priorities