Wars and Tours

Dont you think it's time. . .

Time to change,
Time to move on,
Time to see what lies ahead and not beyond?

Why do we always cause such tragic and disaster upon ourselves, our own people to prove to one another what new 'toys' they've made.
I was sitting out on my porch the other day, with the radio next to me, the sun rays reflecting off my aviators and a cold drink at hand looking up at the cloudless sky, when on the radio the lady was reporting about more deaths in Iraq. It then got me thinking, as I looked up at the sky; we all live on this same planet, we all breathe the same air, we all live our own lives under the same blue sky...yet, just by crossing the seas you are taken to a whole new world almost, where a completley different culture is embraced, a whole new city of people who think differently to you, but function the same way. You get there and you see them, living their own lives, and even in places such as Iraq, where this hellish war is taking place, you will still see the children smile, you will still hear the people laugh, you will still see the people communicating in their own language to one another and breathing the same as you, and understanding the concept of waving instead of attempting to speak another language. With a little bit of effort on both sides, communication is easily achieved; but why do we of all things on this planet cause so much greif between ourselves to have this taken away from us. We learn from them, as they do from us. We live on this planet, and we need to know about it, why do we take that away from ourselves. We destroy and we never seem to repair, only to repair those that will redo the costly damage once again.
As I sat there on my porch listening to the horrific tales of what had happened, I looked up to see a two birds in the tree in my driveway almost as a couple singing to each other, and realised as we begin to destroy this place slowly, we not only cause trouble and disaster for ourselves, but for the natural world too...We take their homes away, and create destruction for our own, what good is their in that? Will we stop and remember the homes we've burnt down, the families we have torn apart, the cherishable memories we have ripped away, the blood we have shed, the nature we have destroyed. How will they all be remembered, will they be remembered at all?
But, that is just another story that will eventually come to an end, and the remembrance in itself, is a whole new story...

It's been 3years since my time on Music Tour through my old High School. On it, I learnt a great deal, and came back seeing the world from another view.
This year, another group gets to do the same thing. If you were to ask me about the most memorable moment or time whilst on tour, I could give you an answer, and it is not the whole tour itself. Exploring the Bavarian Alps on a particular day, and climbing and carefully working our way through nothing but rock, we finally reached new corners of the Alps. Big patches of snow was discovered, and for those who had never seen snow before in their lives; well, lets just say that was enough for them. Not long after the discovery, a massive war was waged upon each other with clumps of snow being the only form of ammunition. And as time went on, there was a distinct separation between two teams, one side against another.
However; this was not my special moment. Mine was to be discovered much more ahead--further up the alps. I continued on past the snow alone where noone there had been to yet. I walked for about another 7-10mins forward finding some more snow. Then as some had followed my footsteps, they stopped at this spot, as I continued onwards yet again.
Eventually came to a certain point where I could go no further. The loud yelling and screaming from the others in their snow fight, could not be heard at all, nor seen. I was higher up than them and further up too, but nothing. I sat there on the alps- on the border of Germany and Austria, and gazed out into the open. Saw myself surrounded by mountains and cliffs, and below far far down small towns and villages. All I could hear was the sound of the wind whistling in my ear gentle and crisp. I was higher than the clouds, for the first time I saw clouds from above them, and not in a plane. I could hold a pen out and the small towns could be covered with the tip of my pen, thats how far/high I was. For a moment, I just sat there and just enjoyed what was there, right in front of me. I had found this form of calmness, and peace. Among all that is going on in this world at that exact moment, all the terror, sadness and the terrible noises and air people had to breathe throughout the world, I was there enjoying and feeling the pureness of what Nature has to offer. I could taste and smell the pureness of the air up there. I could tell the difference between the air we normally breathe and what I had taken up there. This moment I had up there, was a wake up call to me. Noone else was to know what I experience up there, even you who is reading this may or may not understand the feeling I got. Coming back down the alps, that is all I could think about. I was up there, with the 'real' nature of this mother-earth; and I realized-the Earth was breathing with me...

I could not get my mind off the thoughts I was thinking up there, it stayed with me the whole day, and I knew I would not forget that feeling. As I was up there, I was hysterically taking pictures from every angle and taking 360 degree shots and videos of the place just to try and bring back as much as I could of that place. But in doing so I realized as to now matter how hard I try, this place will appear different to others that I show these pictures and videos to. They of course will not get the same feeling as I did. They will not see the beauty and the heaven-like sights as I saw it. But all I could do was try...

I came back from tour couple of weeks later; and tried to describe to people back home what it was like. But I suppose its quite hard to do.
This year, the students on tour have the opportunity to explore the same thing. Whether or not they will see or think the things I did, but the opportunity is there, and whether or not they take it is entirely up to them. They may return without any kind of proper thought put into anything, or it may hit them later on down the track way after the tour has finished.
But will they? Will they really see the things we saw, despite the fact that they are going to places entirely across the globe from where we went, will they still think the way we did? Or perhaps come back with totally different views to what we had when we got back. Whilst on tour its always the thrill and the excitement of it thats constantly kicking in. But its only after the trip and later on or you get an email from someone on that trip or something until it starts to kick in.
The cool thing about tour is that, you discover this whole new world, just by jumping on a plane and going somewhere...Whats also great about tours and trips, is not only the thrill of going away; but all about the, the people you meet, the places you go to, the things you see, the things you eat for the first time, and the activities you do...

to be continued. . .






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