Letters from Cali

Dear you,

There are 8.142 billion people on this earth. My brain can’t even begin to comprehend that number. Eight billion different versions of today. Eight billion different memories of the past two weeks. Eight billion perspectives, feelings, and thoughts.

It feels silly sometimes to think I’m special, yet we all do this. One day, we gain awareness and suddenly believe we’re chosen, unique. But maybe we are all special. And maybe there’s so much “special” within each of us that it becomes ordinary. Still, how extraordinary our lives are. We wake up every day on a planet floating in the universe, a planet that grows food, shelters creatures of every kind, and sustains life in ways that are nothing short of miraculous.

Lately, I’ve been reflecting on this more. Not just because of everything happening environmentally, geopolitically, and economically, but also because of the children around me. Watching their innocence and joy shifts my perspective.

Often, people from Westernized countries arrive believing they are somehow “better” than those who don’t live in such places. Our biases trick us into assuming others are miserable. But in truth, it may be us who are miserable. We’ve become disconnected from the earth and from the simple rhythms of human life.

When I ask children and youth where they’d like to travel or if they’d ever want to move, most say no. They love their lives. Meanwhile, we show up pretending to be saviours. The so-called “white saviour complex” is ingrained in us the moment we’re born in a Westernized country, even in me, a child of immigrants. How ironic is that? I never thought I carried it, because I’ve always recognized the beauty of non-Western countries. On top of that, I studied Political Science and believed my education had taught me to see all countries equally, without bias. But being here has shown me otherwise: education is only supplemental to experience. That’s one of many lessons I am learning during my time here in the in-between.

Of course, every country has struggles. But we are all part of the same world, built from the same atoms as our ancestors. We are the same species, with the same biology, the same capacity for feeling.

Sometimes I wonder why travel changes people so deeply, why it transforms personalities. I think it’s because we’re doing what humans were always meant to do: to be curious, to explore, to encounter the unknown, to confront our ingrained biases. We step outside our comfort zones, challenge the part of our brain that fears, and discover that on the other side of fear is growth.

These past two weeks have shown me how important it is to challenge my own biases, even just to recognize that I have them. That’s not always easy. After all, how can I, an “educated and aware” person, still carry bias? But the truth is, yes, we are special, but we are not perfect.

Recently, I joined a boxing class, which was way outside my comfort zone. Surrounded by strong, skilled people, I felt like a weak and clueless outsider, I was scared. The gringo who didn’t belong. I expected judgment. Instead, I found warmth, kindness, and encouragement. By the end of class, I could’ve cried with gratitude. That experience showed me my own bias and fears at work, and how wrong it was. Vive sin miedo!

If there’s one lesson I’m carrying forward, it’s this: step out of the comfort zone, recognize the bias, and keep challenging it.

From,

Cali

“We need to challenge ourselves to seek out the unfamiliar and overcome the implicit biases that have been holding us back”

Tanya Dalton