I'm back. Back in the United States; back in the San Francisco Bay Area. Yes, I have been absent for awhile. And where are all my postings from my great world adventures of the last four months? Well, the Internet connectivity was sorely lacking where I was. So, I took lots of notes, and thousands of photos (and if one photo is worth a thousand words, then I have millions of words to share). No, don't worry, I won't data dump everything here, but perhaps it will be interesting to work backwards in sharing my amazing travel adventures as I methodically reflect upon the places I've been and the people I've met. One of my first reactions of readjusting to being back in the United States, and specifically northern California, was verbally expressed to my son when we were driving home, after he picked me up at the airport, "Ahh, back in the land of Tesla's and Beemers..." Actually, I think I said Porsche's instead of Beemers, but it might as well have been any of the high end automobiles that are so prevalent on the road today in the San Francisco Bay Area - Tesla's, Mercedes Benz's, Audi's, BMW's, Porsche's (literally, one cannot drive more than a few blocks in the neighborhood of Burlingame, California without seeing a Tesla Model S, or now their new Model X - and when the company launches their model 3 in another year or two, well Tesla, or more likely Elon, will snicker at seeing the world abundant in S3X). But kudos to Elon Musk - for all that he has done and all that he plans to do. I for one am a huge fan. After all, my daughter did a summer internship for the company in their R&D group in Palo Alto the summer before last, leveraging her materials science engineering degree along with her FSAE, formula car team project work. I hope Mr. Musk achieves all the success that he envisions for humanity, since he truly is one of the Thomas Edison's of our time (or, perhaps more likely, the Nicolas Tesla of our time). And great things can evolve from the "dents in the universe" that he is making (to borrow a phrase from one of the other great geniuses of our time, Steve Jobs, who left this world way too soon). The concentration of wealth, here in the United States of America, broadly, and in the Bay Area, specifically, is not the "real" world we live in. I for one should know after returning from 3 1/2 months abroad, experiencing the cultures of many third world nations in Africa, Central and South America. I've seen varying statistics about what percent of the world's population lives on less than $2 per day but, even if you believe the lower-end numbers provided by the World Bank that almost 11% live in extreme poverty, as defined by $1.90 or less per day, that percentage is still too high. Growing up, my children would often characterize a challenge one of them might face as, "Well, that's a first world problem." So many things in the day-to-day life of the average US citizen can be characterized this way. We often get caught up in issues that, at the end of the day, are rather trivial, especially when put in the context of something like trying to figure out from where one's next meal is coming. Perhaps the hardest part about adjusting back ("re-entry" as some call it) is wanting to ensure that I will be able to maintain that sense of compassion for humanity and not get caught up in little problems that just don't even matter in the bigger scheme of life. As human beings, we all should be concerned about our fellow human beings meeting their very basic needs on Maslow's hierarchy - i.e. at a minimum, meeting their physiological needs: food, water, shelter, and clothing; in addition to their safety needs: security and safety (and probably in the basic needs category falls healthcare). When one is focused on just attaining those very basic human needs, they become fully present in the moment - mindfulness as some call it. The Semester at Sea voyage provided many opportunities to be mindful. That is another concern of mine being back in the "real" world - losing that sense of being present and focused on the here and now. This brings up another related topic of discussion for me. Happiness. What is it? I asked myself that question a lot as I was going through my divorce. I think I know what the absence of happiness is. But what is true happiness? In a 2010 Princeton Study by Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton, they determined that, at the national level, making more than $75,000 per year "won't significantly improve your day-to-day happiness." I'm reminded of a quote I saw recently, "People aren't thankful because they are happy, people are happy because they are thankful." In many places around the world, people are quite content with their lives, despite the fact they have so little. I lived this with some of them, being welcome as a guest in their homes. And, you know what, there was a particular calm serenity to the lives they lived. It pervaded into my mood. I was present with their conditions in life, and yet despite the modest means within which they lived, they had food and water on their table, clothes on their backs, a roof over their heads and they simply seemed content (one might almost say happy). What a lesson in life. Be happy with what you have, especially if your basic needs are met. And be thankful for who you have in your life, such as how grateful I am of having Michelle by my side; she was the one making many sacrifices for me and yet was still so supportive of me pursuing all these travels for the last few months.
3 Comments
Jennifer Jory
1/10/2017 08:20:59 am
Hi Conrad,
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Margarita Lenk
1/10/2017 09:51:14 am
What a beautiful post, Conrad. It was a complete honor to share the voyage with you, and to have you mention the science of happiness really tickles me! Looking forward to growing our insights and perhaps a joint project in the future!
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Liza Kraft
1/10/2017 04:10:15 pm
Hi Rad,
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CONRAD B. HERRMANN
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