Travel is an activity that is wide-ranging in its benefits of experience, and that’s a big reason why I personally love to do it as much as possible. Seeing the next town over or crossing an ocean can have equally profound effects in broadening perspective and in just simply being fun. I think in many ways, reading can provide the same benefits. While it’s more of a cerebral exercise to take words on a page and let them play out among your imagination, seeing the sights of a new land and reading tales of its (or another’s) history can get you to thinking. That’s what I love. Point made.

So in a recap of a recent 13 day excursion that took me to many picturesque locations in Europe, and upon completing Jared Diamond’s “Collapse”, I offer this dear readers - revel in the sunshine. Don’t be upset when tomorrow brings clouds, or even unyielding darkness. Be an insignificant little speck in the behemoth of our planet and our kind’s history, but know that there is good in that role.

Diamond’s book takes a look at a series of societies that have collapsed over the past few thousand years - and by “collapse” I mean they basically ran themselves out of existence. What did they do wrong? Usually they did not adapt well to their environments, and made many mistakes amongst their cultures, politics, and values that eventually led back to screwing themselves out of a livable habitat. In a time where populations are rising to previously unforeseen levels and human impact on the planet is astronomical, it’s hard to not have doubts about our ability to support the lifestyle we currently enjoy here in the U.S. We may in fact be able to hold out at the expense of other countries and other continent’s natural resources, but essentially buying yourself the right to be the last to die is something that Diamond warns against.

Sitting on the Greek island of Santorini, hopping around through southern Europe, it all makes it seem a bit more “real”. The people there are just like you and I and there’s no way to think that even if disaster were to befall on them, or in Asia or Africa, that it doesn’t come back to haunt America. I’m not a doomsday artist and I’m not here to give a book report (especially not a Boston-area book report on Oliver Twist - “Does that encapsulate you?”). I’m just putting it out there that shit like volcanic eruptions, loss of food supply, politically-motivated genocide, all happens and it’s not a big surprise. All the same, if you lose your job or your dog gets hit by a car, don’t feel special. The sheer mathematics of what is seen as catastrophic or sad, the loss of a lifestyle or of life or whatever, is insane. Insignificant little speck. The times we live in may see a continued prosperity or they may see the complete downfall of it all.

One person we encountered on our trip was an ex-pat from California who had moved to Nice in the 70’s because she was appalled by what happened in Cambodia, especially in the wake of the Vietnam war. It upset me to hear her reasoning for leaving her home, only to get a little salvation when she said the main thing she’s learned in the past 30 years of living in South France is that there are problems everywhere. She couldn’t run from them by leaving the country. I just hated the reasoning - it all would’ve happened regardless of her existence, her interpretation, and how she decided to react. Why uproot your life for that? Uproot your life for love, for adventure! What if she would’ve been out to dinner when the news report from Cambodia hit the 6 o’clock news? If you want to learn about this world then don’t expect to get the endings you do in fiction. Reality defies fiction in every way - that’s the basis of fiction.

There’s no way for me or for anyone to get the low-down on every event that passes in our world. She thinks that Cambodia was unique? That shit is everywhere and always has been. Don’t forget you’re only just a speck. It is human nature to both forget that and for those things to happen.

I know I mentioned that there are ways to revel in that role of being a “speck”, that the macro factors of society and perhaps our planet are beyond your direct control. It’s just a matter of perspective and deciding how to react to that type of stuff. Learning about these tragedies, just like the way you can learn about “neat” things like the history of some Greek winery, is all just food for the mind. Accept them both and smile at the sunny parts, the sunny days. Travel. Read. Spend some money and let yourself be. Don’t be selfish about your place in the world, it’s all fleeting anyhow. Only then will you feel like it’s all a great success.