The Way The World Changes You!

Have you ever been on vacation a noticed how different other people’s lives are so different than yours? I have and I can say that it truly has changed my perspective on the world. Seeing other countries and comparing it to ours, I can see how fortunate we all are. I always like to wonder what other people who come to our country might think and compare it to their lifestyle. I have always had an eye on traveling the world and making a difference. My biggest dream is to help others, in different countries!

In 2015 I went on a cruise to Mexico. I docked at a couple different ports, and walked around. I saw many different things from houses, to schools, to the appearance of each other, I even heard some stories. After listening to people’s stories and taking in everything that I saw I realized how fortunate my family and I truly is.

We docked at Belize and got a history of their town on the way to the zoo. Belize is a very poor country and urge Americans to buy property in their country to earn money on their end. Their best profit is probably the cruise ships and the tourist who spend money on food and souvenirs. One of our excursions was to go to the zoo.  As I was sitting on the bus looking out the window I saw all these abandon dogs, so skinny, and alone, I couldn’t help but want to take them all home. The tour guide on the bus gave us a history about their country. As I am used to our school and being free to wear clothing of my choice it was interesting to hear how different schools have their own uniforms to be able to tell where different kids go to school. There were a couple reasons for the uniforms the most important was that if they were found skipping schools they would be brought back to school to finish the day. I found that their days are much different than ours. Some schools get out at noon, and others start later in the day.

Seeing the houses, made me a little sad too; you could tell the rich from the poor, as the nicer houses had bars on the windows to protect the valuables from storms to break ins, and other homes couldn’t afford doors and used curtains instead. The appearance of kids and adults made me sad as some kids were really skinny and shoes were not always fitting to their feet. Watching these people walk through their streets with little to no shoes made me appreciate the ability to drive and own a car.  Gas was highly expensive in their town and if they did drive their car it was what we would call a junk car. We take for granted the price of gas but we don’t pay over $6.00 a gallon to drive to work and school everyday. According to “Check In Price” the minimum salary in Belize is $3.25 BZ (to us that it is about $1.60 US Dollars)… can you imagine your salary being that much? According to “Trading Economics” the unemployment rate is 6.00 percent. This is when the urge of wanting to help people came rushing through my blood. Although I couldn’t actually help these kids it changed my perspective on those who might not be as fortunate as others. Lucky for the children they don’t realize how different their life is compared to ours here in the U.S.  Belizians as they call themselves truly show the meaning to the phrase “you don’t need to be rich to be happy”. These people are happy to welcome you to their county and share their culture with you.

In today’s world we are so quick to judge or look past people who aren’t like us, or who don’t wear “good” enough clothes to match the style of what’s trending at the time. I have changed my perspective on the world. From seeing another countries lifestyle to ours, and listening to stories of peoples lives I have come to consideration that even today you can’t be so quick to judge someone because we all have a story.

Photo by Prayitno / Thank you for (12 millions +) view on Foter.com / CC BY