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 Home / Indexes T r a v e l W r i t i n g  Travel PhilosophyWalking on Eggshells by Paul Otteson Synopsis & Author Comment: Any traveler who respects diversity must deal with the challenge of how to engage foreign cultures. With the grand variety of attitudes and practices around the globe, it is difficult if not impossible to be fully prepared to behave appropriately in every situation. I take a fresh look at the issue, examining the problems inherent in the quest to both, "do as the Romans do," and, "be yourself." Lead Text: "That which a group of people do that's different from that which other groups of people elsewhere on the Earth do is their culture. If everyone on the planet does the same things in the same ways, it's not culture anymore, it's social or human. That's about how I see it. Walking is human. Talking is social. Eating with only the right hand is cultural. All but the most insulated travelers will have experienced several other cultures before their first big trip. They can be as close as next door or the TV screen. They are only secondarily related to national boundaries. Every city of size is a veritable buffet." |
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