The Gifts of Travel - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 6

states. What, then, accounts for the striking differences in the vast array of cultures, their
contrasting and competing habits of the heart? And what should the wise traveler know
about this cultural array?
A remarkable conclusion drawn from genetic science is that all people share more than
99 percent of the same genetic code. If proof were needed, consider that humans are “inter-
fertile”; that is, human offspring are born wherever and whenever people mate. What, then,
accounts for striking racial differences in skin color and facial features? Centuries-long ad-
aptation to the environment is the most widely accepted evolutionary answer. For example,
a random genetic mutation, light skin, might have been an adaptation that helped migrants
survive in colder climates. The large body mass of many Polynesians suggests that they
descend from ancestors whose girth enabled them to survive long sea voyages to the remote
islands of the Pacific. The compact body mass and metabolism of the Eskimos enable them
to conserve body heat in Arctic temperatures. In each of the above cases, what may have
been a random mutation helped to assure the survival of those who inherited the mutation.
And with this idea, we return to a familiar theme: geography is destiny.
As far as is presently known, everyone on earth has descended from ancestral bands
of humans living three to five million years ago in eastern Africa. Half a million years ago,
Homo erectus (upright man) “lived and hunted in suitable areas throughout the Old World
from China to Germany and in North and East Africa.” [10] Ten thousand years ago, plants
and animals were domesticated in the Near East, and permanent dwellings replaced tribal
wandering in search of game and wild foods: “…Upland valleys offered good water sup-
plies, often fertile soil, and their natural configuration made it easier for men to confine
their herds and to move them between summer and winter pastures.” [11]
During these long centuries, cultural separations took place. Gods and myths of cre-
ation became increasingly localized. As language developed, it, too, was centered in spe-
cific geographic areas. Tools, weapons, shrines, dwellings, and paintings on the walls of
caves give evidence of cultures separated by time and place. Among the many contributors
to cultural separation, and thus to diversity, the most prominent are language, religion, and
geography.
THE GIFT OF PERSPECTIVE
The distinguished anthropologist Ralph Linton once remarked that the last thing a fish
probably thinks about is water until, of course, it is taken from its life-giving habitat. A
foreign culture, especially an exotic one, prompts the traveler to think about his or her own
society. Why is my culture different from this one? What has made us what we are? Here,
we touch the greatest gift of travel: a deeper understanding of our own society. Forced to
confront another culture, we return to our own with a better understanding of it.