Chance & Luck
And the responsibility to broaden our perspective of the world
I've thought about this a lot as we've traveled the world. The fact that I have a passport which allows me to travel freely to 150+ countries is by virtue of where I was born and have citizenship. Add to that the privilege of my background, upbringing, education, and career opportunities and it means I've gotten a winning lottery ticket. Yes, there was hard work involved along the way, but the origin was down to luck.
I'm keenly aware that so many have not been a fraction as lucky. I’ve watched the atrocities of genocide in Gaza and had many a day where I struggled to process my reality against theirs; they couldn’t be more different. As I’ve passed through immigration checks and gotten my passport scanned and stamped, I’m aware that they can’t leave the one place they’re trying to survive in. It’s not all that different in Sudan and the Congo, or other places in the world.
But you don’t have to look merely at countries in dire situations. I met a lovely woman from India while we were both passing through Belgium and she opened my eyes to the challenges she faces in traveling because her passport is weak. To spend two weeks in Europe touring Christmas markets, she had to apply for a visa three months in advance, submit tomes of paperwork, show adequate funds and proof of employment, along with her full itinerary and, of course, pay for the cost of the visa. I was floored. All I had to do was buy a plane ticket (not even far in advance) and get on a plane, simply because of the passport I carry, which is based on where I was born. Luck, chance.
I met a woman in Tirana who’s Russian. She’s lived and worked all over the world but because of the current geopolitical situation, she can’t travel freely. She also has to jump through hoops to be able to take a trip into the EU. Same for others I’ve met along the way.
Travel has opened my eyes to the power of a strong passport, something I’ve taken for granted. And there’s no guarantee that our family’s passports will stay strong. Our luck could change based on geopolitical shifts.
Traveling and living abroad opens our eyes to different circumstances and helps us realize that there are many realities — all which can be true at the same time, even when they may be in conflict with one another. The invitation is to notice, to learn, to grow. To realize that the perspective through which we see and experience the world is only one of many and that if we look beyond, we can widen it. In fact, that is what we are being called to do, and it is by virtue of having a passport that we were born into by luck and chance that we can do so with relative ease.
How have luck and chance played into the opportunities afforded to you, particularly with regard to international travel? How are you using your access to the world to broaden your perspective and understanding of it?