One question I’ve been wrestling with in my head is, why am I going to fly around the world to teach a relatively small group of people CPR? There’s the obvious answer, because it’s an adventure. But is that justification enough to spend 30 hours plus on a plane ride—one way? Is that justification enough to spend my precious vacation time away from my family? Is that justification enough to ask friends, family, and strangers for cash? For me, it’s not.

Travel for me isn’t only about a thrill. It’s about connecting with people. It’s about developing understanding. I was watching a YouTube video and the speaker, a fairly well-known endocrinologist, was talking about health, specifically mental health. He was talking about various ways someone can improve their mental health without drugs. One way he spoke about was “connecting.” He spoke about how humans communicate and that non-verbal communication is essential, yet we lose it in our tech gadget world. It makes sense, how often have we gotten an email or text and took it the wrong way? There’s no context, there aren’t those subtle clues. On the other hand, you can go anywhere in the world, see someone smile, and instantly know that person is happy without knowing anything else. I’ve had meaningful interactions with people around the world, yet neither of us spoke the other’s language. Non-verbal communication, he says, improves our ability to be empathetic; but it can only occur in live, face-to-face interactions. That’s why I’m going. People around the world are being told to fear “others”. But I don’t see that. Ignorance breeds fear and fear breeds hate. In reality, we share more in common then we sometimes understand; yet if we don’t get out of our comfort zone, if we don’t see for ourselves how similar we are, it’s not impossible, but learning that truth could be challenging.

Contributing was another way to improve mental health. This can mean through volunteering, financial donations or in some way improving your community. Contributing makes people feel better, interestingly, consumerism does not. This is fairly well-known today. Ads and memes are all over about giving people gifts of experiences versus stuff. The trick is, it’s not just about having an “experience,” but having a “shared experience.” That’s what contributing means to me. It’s about learning we’re on this crazy ride called life together. It’s about learning that nobody goes through life alone. That same podcast talked about the uptick in suicides in the US, and how one reason is isolation. When we feel alone, it’s scary and depressing. Yet by contributing maybe we can teach ourselves and one another that we’re not alone, that there is hope.

I guess, in the end, my goal with this trip is to make connections with people I might otherwise never meet. To show them I’m not that different but to also learn that they too “put their pants on one leg at a time.” I don’t expect this trip to change government policies or cure cancer, but I do hope to open a few minds, both my own and others. I do hope to contribute to the greater good and improve the lives of a few, which may have ripple effects across a larger area. I’m going, because I’m hopeful for a better world, and I hope to inspire someone else to feel the same way.

To those of you who have, in many various ways, contributed to this project, thank you.