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But I know what it's like in India. It's like what it's like in Cowboy Cottage ... except in India. I may not be the only dual national you know (I hold two passports: one British, the other American; I was born in England qualifying me for the former; I'm a naturalized citizen of the United States qualifying me for the latter). I am probably the only guy you know who's held five green cards from different countries ("who's held" not "who holds" because a green card expires if its holder doesn't maintain continuous residence in the country). I've traveled, lived, and worked in these countries long enough to qualify for their green card: England, South Africa, France, New Zealand, and the United States. I circumnavigated the planet during the years 1971 through 1978. I traveled to explore, to see new places, to experience new cultures and people. I say you'll get the same reason if not a similar one if you ask people who've traveled as much as or more than I have. As an unflinching reply to the question "Why do you travel?", "To explore the world etc" is actually a secondarily true reason. The prevalent true reason is "Because I don't like it here" (wherever "here" is) or if the truth be really told, "Because I don't like being here" - which is to say "Because I don't like who I am here" or even more tersely "Because I want to take a break from who I am.". Now wouldn't that be the widest spread reply if we weren't so covert about it? Really! On this hejira I've been on, it's not even superficially true to say I first explored / discovered the world, and then I explored / discovered who I really am (which is to say who I might be really like a possibility). No, they were both ongoing concurrently. So while I had my attention on exploring / discovering the world, I was also (in bursts / from time to time) exploring / discovering who I might be really; I just didn't have my full attention / focus on it, rather it ... kinda ... sorta ... happened just in the process of Life itself. Then when it erupted and took over my entire stage front-and-center, it completely re-arranged ie recontextualized (I love that word) from then on, what had compelled me to travel. It recontextualized traveling per se, who I'd really been being traveling, even who I might really be as a human being. |
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