Rustic Alum Shares How Travel Taught Her to Stand up for What She Believes
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Rustic Alum Shares How Travel Taught Her to Stand up for What She Believes

We got an email yesterday from a student alum named Carey Davis, a high school senior from Northborough, Massachusetts, and we had to share it with you. 

Carey told us, “My travels with Rustic have taught me that to accept and understand cultures and people disparate from my own is to cultivate global harmony. That to appreciate others is to appreciate the mosaic of the human race.”

“Yet, Rustic has also taught me something else. Something perhaps even more valuable than appreciating and respecting diversity. And that is to stand up and do. To take action over idleness and extend my efforts to improve the lives of others.”

“You have opened my eyes to the scintillating beauty of the world, and you have emboldened my ability to make a difference.”

Read Carey’s full email—and how travel taught her to stand up for what she believes—below, published with her permission.

To Rustic Pathways,

I have rafted through the white waters of Costa Rica, gazed over the incredible Thai jungle on the back of an elephant, and played soccer in the red hills of Tanzania. I have made obscure villages in the deepest pockets of the world my home, and I have come to know and understand individuals despite our lack of shared tongue. I harbor an ardent wanderlust, one which remains insatiable and perpetual. I would like to profess my profound appreciation to Rustic for offering these incredible opportunities, for I have learned the world is not beautiful for its homology, but its diversity.

As a traveler who desires to not only witness the world but be a part of it—not only to meet people but foster a community—my heart burns with ire, with unremitting frustration. My travels with Rustic have taught me that to accept and understand cultures and people disparate from my own is to cultivate global harmony. That to appreciate others is to appreciate the mosaic of the human race. And yet, I live in a world where our president signs an executive order barring Muslim refugees for their creed and national origin. I live in a country where the administration deems hijabs as synonymous with terrorism. I am confounded and shaken by this incredible hostility, for it counters the very essence of America, of that idea our founders coveted all those centuries ago.

Yet, Rustic has also taught me something else. Something perhaps even more valuable than appreciating and respecting diversity. And that is to stand up and do. To take action over idleness and extend any efforts to improve the lives of others. I will not be wallowing in complacency while the country I call home constructs walls over our permeable borders.

So thank you. Thank you to every flight leader, program leader, country director, and Rustic Pathways employee who has contributed to my experiences. I am eternally grateful, for you have opened my eyes to the scintillating beauty of the world, and you have emboldened my ability to make a difference. Thus, I will stand for the ideals this nation was founded on. We are a country of immigrants, of people endeavoring for a dream with nothing but the clothes on their back. We are but a fraction of this global community, one we must cherish and protect. Thank you for teaching me that.

Sincerely,
Carey Davis


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About the Author

Jack Weinstein

Content Production Manager

Jack has spent his professional career as a writer and editor. Before joining Rustic, he worked as a journalist in Kansas and Colorado, taught English in Swaziland, and transitioned to marketing roles in the Boston and New York startup worlds. Jack is excited to channel his love of storytelling and his appreciation for education as Rustic’s Content Production Manager. When not working, Jack is either watching baseball or planning his next adventure. Jack and his wife, Blythe, live in Brooklyn.