I finally made it to Europe! I have been wanting to visit for years but could not find the time or the funds to do so, until now. The trip magically appeared in my life at the last minute, and at just the right time.
The adventure started in Switzerland in early July and ended in The Netherlands later in the month. We glided up the Rhein River from Basel to Amsterdam, making daily stops at various ports in Switzerland, Germany, France, and The Netherlands along the way. We spent each day at a different port with options of tours hosted by local historical experts. During some chosen excursions, I visited an elaborate fort (used to defend against another attack from Napolean), biked from the Rhein to the Black Forest, and walked through the oldest college in Germany. Our medium-sized ship floated past many villages and their overlooking castles and we passengers heard some of the stories behind them. This was an excellent opportunity to put reality to the many stories I have heard from across the seas in its “baby sister” country, America.
I had no idea what to expect, except that I knew I would have an eye-opening experience. Like many Americans, I have met and talked with residents and travelers from abroad and have studied the events that occurred in Europe in school and in films but had never experienced it myself.
I was struck by the amount of history being maintained so that people will appreciate and learn from it, which most Americans will never see. In one divinely guided event in Amsterdam, I figuratively (and almost literally) stumbled across the residence where the young Jewish girl, Anne Frank, famously documented her experience while hiding during The Holocaust in German-occupied Holland (now known as The Netherlands) which her family had escaped to earlier. She was eventually found, sent to a labor camp, and died two years later. Her diaries helped many people, including me (while in high school I believe), find some small ways to relate. However, walking in front of the building and through the town she lived in, and visiting areas where the events occurred, allow the reality of it all (sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings) to permeate your body mind, and spirit. You know it HAPPENED.
After the first couple of days of touring Europe, I considered US current events (book banning, blaming an entire race or culture as “bad,” propaganda, etc.), reflected on my own teaching and healing experiences, and pontificated about how most (if not all) conflicts are rooted in insecurity. Then I had a culminating thought which I believe was partly, if not entirely, channeled:
External power CAN NOT strengthen internal weakness.
In other words, no amount of wealth, land, or fame can strengthen inferiority issues. So if we want to stop the next Hitler or another problem caused by one person's internal weakness, we must deal with their probable and problematic insecurity. Then we might save ourselves the mess and horror of someone trying to prove or feel better about themself by conquering something, someplace, or someone, by addressing the root problem. Attempts to control (or conquer) is the definition of abuse. Controlling one's partner is dating abuse and controlling a political party and invading another country is an abuse of power. The abuse stems from insecurity. Abuse and insecurity are treatable and preventable. Not addressing the roots is why the same problems persist century after century and shore to shore.
I know from teaching social, mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health that insecurity is extremely common. Much of our insecurity comes from societal expectations placed on us as children and continues for our entire lives. We hold each other to account for meeting them, pass them down to the next generation, and so on. We are well-intentioned yet often manipulated as some bait us with our need for social acceptance for their own gain (profits, votes, etc.) and so we buy things and trust people we should not. Failure to meet these expectations makes us miserable and leads us to anxiety and depression, abusive situations, multiple stress-related health issues and to numb with substances, etc. This is all addressed in proper Health education which I advocate for. We should spend more energy teaching life coping tools including building tolerance and self-esteem and recognizing and preventing abuse and substance abuse, and we won't have so many world problems including those caused by insecure power-seeking people.
I discuss these types of issues and how the Universe leads us to heal from "Cell to Soul" in my third book, The Intangibles that I finished right before this trip. This trip was no different from the rest of my healing journey that I wrote about as I learned and healed a lot and will share as time and energy allow. Hint: I am still on Amsterdam time and do not know if I should eat dinner or breakfast, got five hours of sleep in two days, and am recovering from COVID which I caught while there. But it was all worth it.
Everyone (especially those who think they know it all) should visit Europe (and other historical areas) and see and feel the history. We study history so as not to repeat it. Words in a book (the ones that are accurate and still legal) and videos are not as meaningful as seeing the actual place, evidence of its destruction and rebuilding, meeting the participant's ancestors, hearing the stories from those who reside there, feeling its energy, and walking on the ground where history happened. Let's learn from our elders and our past. I left Europe having grown accustomed to no traffic, clean air, clean streets, no notable homelessness (a small number of street people in France, one person in Germany), and joyous, respectful people to being yelled at by TSA agents in San Francisco (one on the way out and one on the way back), traffic, smog, and stressed out people. We do not need to "be" Europe but we can certainly learn from those who have been doing it a lot longer and have made mistakes and grown from them. I love this country but we can do better. A Dutch friend who took care of me when I had COVID told me that denying The Holocaust is illegal there. To which I replied, "Being stupid is still legal in America." Perhaps that should change. At least it should be socially unacceptable (since that is what motivates us) to be so willfully ignorant.
I am blessed to have had another amazing, and at times, miraculous journey.
To heal from Cell to Soul, educate each other and yourself, and if and whenever you can: TRAVEL.
Heidelburg University, Germany
Be well! Beth
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