3 weeks in Australia so far... here, it is all what I imagined it to be... nice beaches, beautiful nature, surfing culture, and supercool animals... but it's also other things I didn't imagine it to be. Like the aborigenes beautiful culture and sad history. Like the travel to party culture, drank by teenagers and not so teenagers as well.. I've done it in the past, so I can tell it can be fun for a while, but does it deserve the waste of money, health and travel time?
Party 7 days a week is what the australian subsociety of travel expects you to do. Fortunately, I have a bit of practice at doing not exactly what society expects me to do, and at thinking not exactly what society expects me to think... quite a healthy practice I would say.
One day I had a conversation with an english traveller. He talked very convinced and in good english. Unfortunately he dind't allow for much listening. He argued that most of the people who travel want to be sucessful. He expained further, argumenting well. He wanted to be sucessful, meaning have a high job position, a nice house, lots of money... After listening what he meant by sucessful, I had to disagree... He then added that he believed just once thing... that we only live once, so we have to enjoy it...
I don't know if we only live once... but enjoying life doens't necesarily means having things... however, that is the assumpion which lies deep in the consciousness of a big part of society today. I told him that not all travellers want to be "sucessful" in the way he presented it, but all want to be happy... and in fact, all people want to be happy... However, no matter what you have, can you consider yourself happy or sucessful while doing bad things, hurting the happiness of others? Doing so, the day you die in this one life, not only you have to leave all your "success things", you also leave your rubbish behind... what a success!
Some parts of society expect us to be happy in very doutbful ways, just like a part of society here expects me to be happy by getting drank every night... But what is society made of but people? Do you consider people generally wise and happy, or ignorant and unhappy? Are you letting the ignorant, stressed, greedy, ever-uncontented, unhappy people tell you how to be happy? I rather listen to those which are wise, calm, generous, contended, happy. They are the real success in this life!
