TRAVEL FOR AWARENESS OF EGO AND ETHNOCENTRISM - THE WORLD DOESN'T REVOLVE AROUND YOU!

Can you believe that 34 years after high school graduation, Daddy V still remembers some of what he learned in high school sociology. (I had a great teacher - Tony LaFemina. He also taught anthropology and economics, and co-owned an Italian resteraunt with a fellow teacher. He was also the drama club sponsor. Because of him, I found a love for the stage and for economics. This is the guy who got his entire economics class a tour of the World Trade Centers before they were even finished!) Egocentrism is the belief that the world pretty much revolves around you - you are right everyone else is wrong. Ethnocentrism is kind of the same thing only it's not about you personally as much as it's about your "people" or your social group. Now I don't believe that this is as much a problem in Jay County in 2007 as it was back in 1977 - Jay Countians are a much more mobile group now then ever before. My point is that travel, especially to large metropolitan areas, makes you realize what a "small fish" in a really "big ocean" you really are! Even growing up in the New York/Metro area, I didn't realize this myself until the first time I flew out of Newark Airport and for the first time realized the size of the NY/Metro area and the millions of people who lived in the there. To bring it closer to home, I'm sure that most Patriot Band members were certainly awed by the sight of New York City and humbled by the pace and variety of life (even in the rain) and the opportunites available in a land area that is smaller than Jay County. This kind of "wake-up call" is a great way to counter-act much of the psycho-babble we hear these days concerning the importance of the individual - secular humanism. Surprise, surprise - the world doesn't revolve around you, Jay County, or even the State of Indiana. We are all just small players in the God-created drama called life.

Agree or disagree!

Talk to me, I'm Daddy V