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Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Spending money on
travelling is better than saving money for future use. (20101105NA)
I am always seeing things from the perspectives of young people. I don’t
think it is the best idea to start saving money too early. Instead, go
travelling as much as we can is a better choice.
Simply stated, travelling benefits the future. A widespread phrase “illness
of modernity” largely refers to the uncertainty and anxiety towards the future
among young people. This feeling comes, in my opinion, mainly from a lack of
experience exploring the world. It happened to me several years ago when I
suddenly realized a history major student like myself was trapped between
reality and ideality. So I chose to take one year off from college, which is
more often called “gap year” to work and travel all over the world. I took
interns in Bulgaria and Poland, bicycled through the entire Europe, stayed with
American family, spent leisure summer in Spain, took care of autistic kids in
Krakow and taught Chinese culture in Sofia. I spent all my money on this trip
until I almost went broke. But I had such a clear picture for future and the
experience I gained from this trip basically made me very compatible in the job
market.
People may question that it would be a little less than responsible for
later years not to save up to a fund. Apparently, this concern ignores the fact
that we will have plenty of opportunities to make money in the future.
Travelling during the early years, in turn, will definitely provide us even more
chances. A lot of my friends are world travellers as well. They experienced so
much that they are very aware of what the general trends of culture, fashion and
even policies of multiple countries they have been to. They are always very
insightful and could easily go one step earlier and further than most of the
peers. After the global trips, some of them have chosen to devote themselves in
academic institutions, some in journalism and freelance writing to continue
exploring and some, like me, chose to work in a company. All of these people now
are making very good money and the life they are living now is even better than
the future they expected years earlier.
And then we need to consider a more practical aspect: are we really able to
travel when we are older? Certainly a huge pressure from expense of raising
children, maintaining a family and duties in work will stop people from carrying
out their travel plans. Young people have relatively flexible schedule that
reduces the risk of spending more energy in begging for a vacation or caring
for, say, how their kids behave in kindergartens. My professor always encouraged
me. He said, “go kid, if I were you, I would seriously consider postponing my
research of Latin American countries because knowing that place from simply
historical documents without actually being there and talked to people there
apparently caused so much trouble in understanding their politics and culture.”
He was right. I am still young. I have nothing now. And of course I have nothing
to lose. That is the spirit.
So let’s go back to the topic we’ve been discussing. When we are young,
there are so many benefits if we just pack a map and take with us the only
dollars we keep in the pockets and set off. Spend the money now for the future.
It is never too late. (575 words, Ge Xu; 2013/1/16)
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发表于 2016-7-10 15:24:24