Traveling allows us to know ourselves intimately. While it is often true that it is "the journey that matters, not the destination", in my case, the destination had had a profound influence on not only the lens with which I view the world, but more fundamentally, it has enhanced the mirror by which I examine myself.
In the spring of 2007 my sister and her family were living in central London. just around the corner from Abbey Road, one of the world's most photographed spots. With great anticipation and enormous expectation, I made my way to the land of the Beatles.However enchanting it felt to be walking in those famous footsteps along that famous spider crossing, true enlightenment would not embrace me until we went to Amsterdam. While Seeing Abbey Road and Abbey Road studios was thrilling, my time in Amsterdam offered up heartbreak.
There were millions of places to go in the Dutch city, but with severe time constraints my sister and I plucked a few choices from the guidebook and paddled our way, via canals, to our various destinations. My heart soared as I explored the Van Gogh Museum with its numerous treasures. I found myself in the hectic anguished self-portraits as well as the passionately vivid landscapes. What would existence be without art? What would my existence be without the art of Van Gogh?
Following the Van Gogh Museum we decided to visit Anne Frank's house, the annex that gave birth to her world famous diaries. Climbing those narrow stairs into the small apartment, where a young girl's dreams were born then murdered, broke my heart. As I absorbed the details of what remained and contemplated the greater tragedy, my eyes stopped on the wall that was adjacent to her bed. Once carefully pasted, now protected by plexiglass, were cut outs of Jean Harlow, Shirley Temple, and several other Hollywood stars of the era. Anne Frank was the average teenage girl subjected to horrific experiences. Van Gogh had shown me the universality of joy;Anne Frank taught me the commonality of sorrow.
Leaving Amsterdam was like leaving home having beentaught a little more about my own humanity, I know I can always return to the destination that strengthened who I am.
