My grandfather, Alfred E. Perron, once told me that one of his ancestors fled to Canada in the early 19th century to avoid Napoleonic conscription. The name Perron is derivative of the first name Pierre, and the surname itself is common in present-day Normandy, almost as common as “Smith” or “Jones.” If this story were true (not that I doubt the authenticity of my grandfather’s statement; I sometimes I have difficulty understanding his English because he has a native French-Canadian background), I would certainly have reason to believe that wanderlust, or pioneering, lies dormant in my genes.
According to Dictionary.com, wanderlust means, “an innate desire to travel …” in some small part. If this ancestor, and the many like him or her, from the Jesuits to the Acadians, did avoid Napoleon’s dictatorial conscription, it would give me a lot of insight into my family’s bloodline. Right now, it’s a Wednesday, and I have my verbal definitions satisfied. I have wanderlust, even though the term itself lends itself somewhat disagreeable to my tastes.
This would imply a traveling abroad for traveling’s sake, and might be the impetus for institutions of higher education to offer “travel abroad opportunities” in great abundance across the world, every semester a semester exists. I have to admit, the innate desire I maintain to spread the gospel comes not only from its eternal weight of importance; but it comes from wanting to travel. I can no more feel at home in my own bedroom than I can anywhere else.
Students everywhere seek to travel, because the experience itself provides the student motivation to do so. Experience becomes one of those words so often thrown around, cheapened, and overused, that it loses its value. I think the experience of travel would suffice. But the thought of my ancestors, French fur-trappers in the Great Lakes region of the United States, gives me a reasonable excuse even if I do not fully understand the logic or facts behind DNA-related science. So, I would like to travel. My ancestors traded furs with the Potawatomi people (one of whom was my four-greats grandmother, if I’m not mistaken). They were on the edge of a frontier that hadn’t yet folded under the full weight of American Manifest Destiny. They forged forward, they were visionaries, they were explorers, and they could not stay still.
I simply cannot. While I struggle with the idea that much of our educational thrust in this day concerns with the “maximizing the potential of the individual as he or she is,” mentality, I cannot disagree with this. If any student were willing to travel, I would say, “why not travel?” I would, however, choose to travel in expense or despite myself, and not for myself.
Have a wonderful Wednesday.
I would like to travel also. I just found this and I couldn’t find your email so this was the closest way to get your attention. I wanted to have you read something I have been working on in the past few days if possible.