2nd- the more I travel the more I look at the intentionality of my travel. We’ve even had “carbon footprint” talk over on Reddit regarding our huge amount of travel. So I try to make sure my family gets something out of every trip we go on that makes it “worth” it for more than just ourselves. I have an affinity for thinking about many things and the older I get the more I realize that every single decision has both good and better outcomes so choose the better (or; more cynically, bad and worse outcomes so choose the “least bad”).
A perfect example of this is the saying “white savior” complex (which has nothing to do with being white, of course, and I dislike the term because of that). But it’s essentially any citizen (regardless of race) from a developed nation that goes to an orphanage in a developing nation, gives a bunch of stuff away, snaps their pics, then leaves. And how little that actually benefits those people vs donating to organizations that promote sustainability and independence in those respective nations. Well, the converse is that whenever I have my children with me in a foreign country (5 and 9), we always carve out a full day for volunteer work that is representative to that countries needs (Animal rescue in Costa Rica, Orphanages in Peru, when my kids are old enough we’ll do youth suicide groups in Japan but for now we do old folks homes there). And the challenge I face is exactly what to do. Using Peru as an example; we have the ability to use an orphanage group that has the teens who are a part of the orphanages there that work as tour guides and that allows them to learn sustainability (which we use). But my kids are also too young to fully grasp that (my 9 year old does somewhat but my 5 year old is oblivious). So we still choose to visit an orphanage to allow my American children to interact and play with the orphans as it is more impactful for
them (my kids) than it is even the orphans themselves. And I can wrestle with the fact of if that is selfish or not, but I believe that through those acts, I am shaping my children to be much better humans that can make a better impact in the world had they not experienced those interactions.
Sorry for the long read. As you can tell, I enjoy those discussions too.
They’re fun for me and I fully believe that mindless action, no matter what you are doing leads to a less meaningful life. Having these discussions internally and externally fortify your beliefs, shape your morals and lead to a more meaningful life; which is what life should be about.
Edited for typos/grammar