Sathfilms

If I have any conclusion at all after this trip – which is not something I claim to have – perhaps it is that all these places, whilst being vastly different on the surface, to me, are incredibly similar underneath. How different can these places within the realm of humanity truly be in the search for what truly matters, whether it’s India, China, Germany, England, America, Australia and so on? What kind of emancipation exists in seeing the world, apart from getting an increasingly acute feeling that satisfaction is somewhere between the lines. There is an odd sensation in seeing the same happiness, sadness, problems, denial, uncertainty and glimpses of beauty, framed in countless diverse ways around the globe, even in states that border each other and even between and within communities that are smaller and physically closer yet.

At ground level, as I traveled around in different kinds of groups – with different friend, with family, with strangers, by myself – seeing a variety of places, I saw numerous ways in which nations and communities have been shaped by their long histories. Ideas have been emphasised differently between societies as occurrences in the past have dictated it. It is quite fascinating to experience how differently people view even simple things because of the way they were brought up and because of the place in which they have grown up.

Firstly, as mentioned, there is contrast in what I’ve seen between places, whilst there remains an intense underlying sameness. Just as the differences keep everyone divided and distracted, the sameness shows promise for peace in the distant future despite the challenges that obviously exist. Secondly but definitely not independent of the first point, there is a type unity in the pervasive dissatisfaction existing in the world today. Identity is getting obscured as people strive to claw uncertainly for an identity, or at least something, anything, to matter enough. Perhaps I’m talking only about myself but I do not think that I am. And perhaps this only exists outside the dogmatic religious frame. In any case, the first phenomenon impedes the second; the first phenomenon distracts us from the difficulty of merely addressing the second let alone overcoming it. Living in that distraction might be necessary, but beneath that distraction is one thing that can cause unity… but does that matter?