Cruise on Over

Next month, my wife and I will be taking our very first cruise trip.
Through the generosity of my in-laws, they recently announced that they enjoyed their own trip so much that they wanted to share it with their children and grandchildren.
Probably more for the grandkids, but that's beside the point.
We were all pleasantly surprised when they informed us that they would treat us all to a cruise trip to Bermuda. Outside of Canada, I have never left the good ole U.S. of A.
I have flown multiple times in my life, taken bus trips, and local riverboat cruises that stayed close to port, but a trip being surrounded by nothing but open sea I find rather intriguing.
The excitement over getting a passport for the first time in my life was an experience in and of itself.  Not just that, but watching my daughter get hers.
I have always found it strange that the older some people get, the less likely they are to leave their comfort zone.
I have Benjamin Button syndrome.  My mindset is working in reverse.
When I was younger, I was pretty stubborn and not likely to leave the waters (pardon the pun) that I was familiar with, but as I grew older, my mind started opening to trying new things, the opinion of others (no matter how much theirs differed from my own) and seeing potential experiences with new eyes.
Because what this life offers is a chance to experience the newness of life.
New perspectives.  New people.  New sights.
A world outside your own seems a lot bigger.
But for some, it's less friendlier.
Nonetheless, it should never be a deterrent to what's important.
We are not alone in this world.
We are without a doubt, as I've written before, the most powerful nation on Earth.  We set the tone for the rest of the world.
What we do impacts other countries, other societies, other cultures.
And we should never fight it or not make an effort to understand, if not accept, what is outside our borders.
We often fear what we don't fully understand.
But we should never allow fear to govern our lives.
We can look back at the events of September 11th as an example.
Many people of Middle Eastern descent, most of whom had become naturalized U.S. citizens, gave up their citizenship and returned to their homeland.
Because of one word...persecution.
This country was formed by people of many races, cultures, and ethnic groups that fled their homeland for that very same reason.
And we should be ashamed of ourselves for becoming the society that struggled to build the image that America was different than any other country on Earth.
The attitude we need to take as a society can best be described by a teen drama canceled not so long ago, with this motto:
"Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose."
Let's start winning again...with a new kind of weapon.
Not the kind you hold in your hands.
But in your heart and mind.
Can't lose.


NEXT WEEK:   Freak Show