The Benefit of Experience

A few days back I put up a post about how we are fundraising to send my oldest child to Europe. I should point out by the way that she is going voluntarily and we are not attempting to have her deported.  What I have yet to address is why she is going and what are benefits to you, the reader.

The following is small list of reasons that you should contribute to my child's globe trotting experience.

1. The world is getting smaller - With the popularity of the internet the world is a smaller place, unfortunately much of our smaller world is taken in sample sized portions.  For instance, many young people will grow up thinking that this picture is all that they need to know about Asian cultures... you know what, I was just did a google image search for Asian to see what would pop up and pick the most racially insensitive one, but holy shit, just holy shit.  Anyways, if you do that you will see that my point is made.  Christ, I need to go wash out my eyes. Her greater understanding of the world after this experience and sharing of this experience will help to add texture to the world when she describes it to her peers. 
2. She may not have another opportunity like this - True, I don't have a typical life experience being that I have 5 kids and all, but the time to travel is when you are young are beholden to no one but yourself.  I have a friend that went skydiving about a decade ago.  I thought it sounded crazy then.  Now that we both have kids, anything more dangerous than friendly game of shuriken tag sounds totally irresponsible.
3. She is a great ambassador -  I went to grade school with a kid named Bobby that was from Iceland.  He was nice and always played Ram-Man when we played He-Man.  To this day whenever I meet someone from Iceland, which is rarely, I always assume that they are polite and have a tendency to headbutt things. While I realize this is illogical, I still do it.  My kid is rad and in her travels she will single handedly erase the bad stereotypes about Americans that the Taliban is working so hard to sow into the subconscious of those in Europe.  You don't love terrorists do you? I'm not saying that she could possibly stop the next 9/11 type attack, but I am saying that if you love freedom, it is probably in your best interest to donate. 
4. Social Justice - We are in a strange place financially speaking.  We are not rich enough to just write a check, nor are we poor enough to qualify for a show on TLC.  Anyone who ever enjoyed any sporting movie has rooted for the underdog.  By supporting my kid's trip to Europe you are helping a child of meager means have an experience usually reserved for the rich.  This is like helping Rocky punch Ivan Drago, or helping Hoops win the regatta, or helping Arnold Schwarzenegger fight the T-1000, the Predator, or a paternity test.

That's not a bad start, I'll get back at you with more advantages and a link to a blog that she is going to be writing as well as keeping you up to speed with her progress.

Until then, click here for your contributions.  

Thank you

L&P