Dr. Travellove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the World
Lipstic Guesthouse, Krabi, Thailand
Dr. Travellove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the World
Have I really reached that point? Just about. I realize I can wake up and do just about no wrong. Does it matter if I eat breakfast here or over there? No. If I give ten cents to this beggar or not? No. If I stay in this place or go somewhere else? No. If I say hello to everyone I meet or no one at all? No.
Far from leading to a cynical, dark place, this revelation leads to freedom. It removes fear from eating breakfast, giving to a beggar, going someplace new, and saying hello to a stranger. It drops the walls of suspicion that build up when I'm not paying attention.
To have this feeling everyday, what is necessary? A clear mind and an open heart. A sense of humor.
The driver of the bus I am riding is not going to veer off the cliff. At least it's highly unlikely. He has driven this route many times before. I'm sure.
I have not contracted an incurable tropical disease. It's an ordinary chest cough, curable with antibiotics. (When I rely on my own intuition rather than the doctor's dream scenario.)
My wallet is not going to be stolen and my credit cards maxed out in twenty-four hours. Unless I carelessly leave the wallet next to the computer terminal in Delhi.
Even so, the companies will give me the benefit of the doubt and I won't lose my life savings.
Something totally unexpected will happen to me with uncertain frequency.
Almost every day I meet genuinely happy, interested people. ("What country?"; "U.S.A."; "Oh, Ah-ME-di-ca! Great country!"; "Yes!"; "George Bush!"; "Yes... he is the president...")
To particularly hyper-annoying auto-rickshaw drivers who want my business: "What country?"; "Antarctica"; "An-ca-ti-put...?"; "Antarctica"; "... Great country!"; etc.)
Get some rest, feed yourself, look around, smile at people, "go with the flow" and don't rush things, and most people will smile back. What is this cloud over my head? It must be something I cannot control, for which I have no responsibility, such as global warming, environmental degradation, rampant development, my own health, high-tech war, corruption, violence, hatred, extreme want. Please, I am not these things.
It is in the head, the feeling in the morning. The feeling can be plus or minus. The plus is: Don't worry. The words DON'T PANIC are printed in large friendly letters on the cover of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
I know when to stay in a place and when to leave. Wait and see, things will happen, opportunities will present themselves. Be patient.
In Bangkok Andy told me, "One day you realize you can do whatever you want." That's the Modern Dream, isn't it? Is it true?
How I learned to stop worrying and love the world: I've almost reached that point. I still have some of the anxieties of the West lurking over my head. As do many of the people of the East. I am not blind enough to deny them. And I cannot attribute things to Fate and Good Luck and Bad Luck. But I have almost learned how to stop worrying, and I've almost learned to love the world.
Dr. Travellove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the World
