International!

Before my first year of college, I hardly knew anyone who had left the North American continent. Sure, a few kids went to Europe for some school related activities, but never by themselves or for personal reasons.

Now, that has all changed. This week has my best friend Mike in Peru, visiting his (girl)friend Bridgette. At 3:45am on Saturday I drove my parents to the giant, industrial-looking complex known as the Minneapolis-St.Paul International Airport so they could fly to the Virgin Islands. My friend Serena is on a one month tour of Europe. Laura is in Taiwan teaching English. Brandis is in Japan, also teaching English. Japan is where my good friend Shaggs is from, and he goes back and forth between there and Mankato. Ryan was in Uruguay this winter. Sarah is going to go either the Congo or China at some point. Brent is going to Italy later this year.

As for me, I go to Europe in May...for only two weeks. I'm extremely excited. I get to use my German. I'm hoping to pay a visit to my LEGO homeland of Denmark. I really want to go Italy, if time permits.

For some reason, these thoughts on international travel lead me to an unorthodox thought chain. I have always prided myself on being open-minded. It is also a trait I admire in other people, and almost all of my friends are also open to new ideas, thoughts and opinions. Something I have come across lately that I like to do is admit I don't know enough about something, or haven't thought about something enough to form an opinion on something. This is something I would like to have others do more. I know that admitting to not being completely informed and not having an expertise in an area of thought could be hard to do for some, but I'm starting to catch on to the idea. For example...abortion. Before we get into some sort of heated, political, lefty-righty, religious evangelical vs the so-called "unholy army" argument, I'd just like to look at the idea with no bias.

I have no first-hand experience with abortion. I'm a male and have never caused a pregnancy. No one I know has admitted to having an abortion. I rarely read about abortion, except when I find a political agenda of a politician proposing new legislature. In other words, I almost never think about abortion. Feel free to criticize me for that, but since it has almost no impact on my life, it isn't something I have thought about much. Last week I was asked where I stand on abortion. My gut (The Colbert Report kind) tells me that I am pro-life, especially in the U.S. with good adoption options. My head tells me I shouldn't tell females what they should do, especially with rape and unwanted pregnancies. I need to think this one through. I need to think. Maybe I need to pray. Whatever I do, I know that I couldn't answer, so I said: "I don't know." Which usually is a quick answer for those who we deem unintelligent.

In this case, I thought it was the most intelligent answer I could give. Instead of deftly going with my gut or my first logic firing in my head, I'll come up with a plan of attack for this issue. Internal debate is always good.

People aren't often this open-minded with their own beliefs and ideas. They stick to them, often arguing them to no end. Never is there any sort of re-evaluation of the idea or thought. Once it is there...it never changes, falters or is under review. It is like hiring a new employee who looks great; polished resume, sharp shoes and then just cutting him loose and never, ever reviewing his work, evaluating progress or stopping at all and asking: "Was this a good idea to begin with?"

Some people think the smart ones who stick to their guns. I think the smart ones are the sharpshooters who change up their ammunition when they find a better round.