Travel as a political act by Rick Steves

Rick Steves at Westminster Presbyterian Church

Six months of travel abroad for all students after completing High School is something travel expert Rick Steves recommended to redirect the United States on a better political course for the future.  This idea was presented in response to a question at the end of Mr. Steve's presentation "Travel as a political act" at the Westminster Town Hall Forum.  He discussed the benefits of gaining insights from the lives and cultures of others who do things differently around the world.  His talk was broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio.

Statuary outside of
Westminster Presbyterian

Rick discovered an important example misunderstanding of language and culture while traveling in Iran.  When caught in traffic his taxi cab driver shouted out "death to traffic".  Seems this is simply a statement of frustration, much as a parent might say "death to teenagers" when rooms aren't picked up, loud music is blaring and homework isn't done.  Here in the US we've taken this expression to mean something much different, and are spending tremendous financial and human resources on the military. This fear of others is in large part contrived by the media and political leaders and is perpetuated by our lack of understanding of other nations around the world.

Did you know that about 1/3 of the world uses knives, forks and spoons for eating, 1/3 chopsticks and 1/3 use their God given tools... fingers! Asian cooking is done in such a thoughtful way so that the one eating a meal need not go to the added effort of using a knife to cut up their food.

Travel that is off the beaten path and engages one with the local people is a fantastic way to reduce ethnocentric and often misguided perceptions of our global neighbors.

Given the great costs of travel, both  financial and on our carbon footprints, I would suggest we can also learn a great deal from the refugees and immigrants that have come to settle in the United States.  Sadly many are never invited in to the homes of American neighbors and would love to both learn more about this culture and to share something of their own.

Military needing to hold bake sale for bomber... NOT

Headline news is that the United States military has made a small step to reduce its 2013 budget by proposing to congress a 1 percent decrease in spending ("Pentaagon to trim budget for first time in decade").  This would bring the Pentagon's budget down to $525 billion dollars.  They're not likely to be holding bake sales for the purchase of bombers just yet. 

One of the erie aspects of the new military is the increased use of unmanned vehicles, such as drones, that can attack an enemy without risking the lives of US troops.  Some consider the use of drones to be unethical and illegal. Utilizing drones in countries where we are not at war is a point of concern for at least one former US government official...

“I think they do, because you cross a border and you go into a country with whom you are not at war under any definition known to man of war and you start to kill people with military implements and in some cases with military people pulling the trigger or pushing the button,” said Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief-of-staff for Colin Powell.