Viktor Frankl, a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps, wrote in his classic Man’ s Search for Meaning that kindness can be found in all groups, even in those it would be easy to condemn. He wrote:“ From all this we may learn that there are two races of men in the world, but only these two – the‘ race’ of the decent man, and the‘ race’ of the indecent man. Both are found everywhere, they penetrate into all groups of society. No group consists entirely of decent or indecent people. The mere knowledge that a man was a camp guard or a prisoner tells us almost nothing. Human kindness can be found in all groups. The boundaries between groups overlap and we must not try to simplify matters by saying that these men were angels and those were devils.” Incredibly, Frankl describes how the SS commander of the camp from which he was liberated at the end of the war was a good man and how the Jewish prisoners protected him, hiding him in the Bavarian woods and only handed him over to the American liberation troops on the condition that no harm should come to him.
“ It takes immense courage. But you can move on. You do not have to stay where you are.
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The second major learning was empathy with those who do not have much. Many of us who have pursued professional careers are from somewhat privileged and protected backgrounds. We had a decent education and there were some social safety nets around us. Many of us were fortunate to be born into middle-class families. We generally did not experience hunger or a lack of a place to sleep. We had access to job opportunities and lived without major uncertainty – the kinds of hardships many others around the world face every day. But when you travel rough, you start to have a glimpse of this other world – going to bed hungry, not having a steady job, sleeping in interesting places, becoming part of the“ other” class. Sure, it was one big adventure and I could always choose to“ push the eject button”, but as a matter of honour and to not cut the adventure short, I chose not to do so.
The pay-off was big. I developed a deep appreciation for the value of capital. Carrying cement bags or drilling in the street with a jackhammer for a day to earn twenty quid puts those twenty bucks in a completely different perspective. When you travel like this, you are offered a glimpse, albeit a very short one, into the psyche and lives of the have-nots. You realise that happiness and adventure, real-life experiences, can be accumulated without that much. You start to develop a deep empathy for those without much. Because, once, fleetingly, voluntarily, you were one of them. You knew how it felt to be turned down for many jobs, to have to budget to the extreme. It is an experience that I treasure. If you have not tasted life from different perspectives, the five-star and the no-star, the bliss and joy, but also the suffering, then your experience is incomplete. And the development of empathy is gold, especially if it is for people who are not from your own class or“ tribe”. It will make you a stronger leader with the ability to see things from different perspectives. It will make you a better person. It will make you stand up when wrong is done to those from other tribes, without sacrificing your own values.
Finally, and this was perhaps THE most important learning of my travel experiences: You always have a choice. It might
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