I Want To Travel, But I'm Scared of Being Murdered
23 May 2016 | Mri Grout
Fear – a four letter word that can destroy entire cultures, rip apart loving families, set fire to promising countries, and make you do unspeakable acts you never thought you could. Or make you hide out in the false safety of your own backyard as you spit on those you believe are your enemies.But the world isn't that black and white. Good doesn't always come to good people and vice versa. Trouble will find you anywhere in the world if you invite it in – a lesson I learned first hand when one of my college room-mates let a drug addict sleep on our living room couch. Long story short: internal bleeding, local gang, trashing of the place/theft, and then an attack with a knife, but whatever. The points I'm trying to make are these:
1. The World Is A Lot Scarier When Seen on TV
People butchering other people and pirates kidnapping tourists make for good stories ('good' meaning profitable here and not the moral value of the word). A news agency has no interest in covering how a church in Brisbane takes place inside of a small, undecorated building that's run as a half-way house. There's no profit in speaking about how some homeless guys fed me and looked after me while I struggled to find my feet half-way around the world or about the men I hitched a safe ride with in a country where I didn't speak the language and so couldn't scream for help – me, a small female on my own at the young age of 19. If you listened to all the scaremongering seen on TV and written in the papers, I should have been raped, robbed, beaten, human-trafficked, and killed.But I wasn't.Because the majority of us humans are kind and helpful. We're not monsters – not the majority of us anyway, but no one ever wants to show that. They want to keep us afraid of the outside world so we're content with our mundane existence as long as we feel safe. And that's a real shame, especially because...
2. Danger Is Everywhere, Even In Your Own Backyard
All it takes is for a misinformed citizen to call the cops...
You can't escape the possibility of danger. Every single place on this earth has it. You could be on your way to work when BAM! a moronic driver slams into your car and kills you. You could be at home sleeping in your own bed when BAM! you get burgled and beaten in the process. You could be minding your own business, just trying to get through university when BAM! one of your roommates turns out to be a drug dealer and one of his 'clients' leads the rival gang into your apartment to trash the place because he pissed them off.But though all of that can happen at home, it doesn't – not for the majority of us anyway. And if it happens rarely there, it'll happen even less abroad because statistically speaking, at home where you're all relaxed, is where and when the majority of accidents and FUBARs happen. You let your guard down and when you travel abroad in a foreign place, you're way more aware of your surroundings because it's simply not home.
3. It's Not Like You'll Deliberately Travel to Snake Island
No joke, that's a real island located about 100 miles off the coast of Brazil and as its (English) name suggests, it's home to lots and lots of snakes – of the poisonous variety. AKA: Even if it wasn't officially prohibited for you to visit, you probably wouldn't because IT'S AN ISLAND COVERED, LITERALLY COVERED, WITH POISONOUS FREAKING SNAKES!Even snake lovers (like me) have the sense to keep away.My point is, you don't deliberately travel to dangerous places. You research, keep your ear to the ground, check out websites, talk to locals, etc to find out where you shouldn't go and what you shouldn't do. And then you don't.Simple as.
4. Besides, Do You Really Want ISIS and Their Like to Win?
By staying home due to fear of their actions, you are letting them control your life and destroy your dreams from afar. In short, you're letting them win. And they don't deserve that. They don't deserve a damn thing from you other than a kick in the ass, so why let them take something so personal and invasive? Screw them. Screw them in seventy different ways. You're too good to fall for their stupid tactics
So What's Stopping You From Travelling Now?
You're braver than you think you are. The world isn't as scary as you think it is. And ISIS and the rest of them can just go off themselves.As long as you take precautions, even simple ones like there are pirates in Somalia so don't travel to Somalia via boat, then you'll be fine.Everywhere in the world is always going to be a possibly dangerous place, but you can't let that fear of the unknown control you. Make you miss out on the deep canyons of America's west side, the disappearing glaciers of Svalbard, and the extraordinary views of the milky way seen from the Australian outback.See you on the road.
If you liked I Want to Travel, But I'm Scared of Being Murdered, then you might also like these other travel motivational posts:
Travel Tip #4
Do you have any other fears about traveling that wasn't covered in I Want to Travel, But I'm Afraid of My Future? Do you fellow travelers have any other tips for the beginner? Or do you just want to share your awesome travel stories? Whatever it is, we'd love to hear all about it in the comments below!