We all need to get out more

America is currently a land of fighting. We Americans love to fight over practically everything. Doesn’t if its small or large, important or not. We put a lot of effort and energy into fighting over all sorts of things. It’s just that most of these fights are short attention span fights. Some of the bigger, more important fights though are long term — like multi-generational fights that seem to have no end in sight.

I think America and Americans would be better off if we all traveled more. That’s not a cure all of course. And when I travel, it’s bigger than hopping on a plan and going to some far-off place. Travel doesn’t have to be far or long. In fact, travel doesn’t have to involve physical movement at all.

I think so much of our fights are really just ourselves projecting stuff about ourselves that we don’t like onto other people and groups of people.

So, what do I mean by travel? Well, I will use my most recent excursion to Guatemala as a metaphor.

I just returned from a week-long trip there for a board strategy retreat for Tree 4 Hope, which is a great organization you can read about through this link. (And please feel free to support the organization as it impacts lives in many ways. Or you can support the organization by buying coffee through Chica Bean coffee, a woman-run coffee roaster in Guatemala that partners with Hope Academy Guatemala and works with the girls who do an internship with the company where they develop their own blend. You can buy coffee through this link. Or…