Like the father in the YouTube video, I’ve had people tell me the wildest reasons about why I’m nuts to be traveling abroad.  Here are some examples:

Muslims are taking over France and attacking people.

ATMs can’t be found in Peru.

I wouldn’t feel safe about going to China where polio is found in a region.

You’ll get mugged in Peru.

You’ll get killed by bomb attacks in Israel.

You’ll be attacked in Europe for being a Jew.

We can choose to only read about the negatives views of other countries in the media and never travel there or be open minded by traveling afar, discovering the real beauties of the destinations, and even helping to improve the lives of people in various places.  Every part of the world including my own country, the US, has its own share of problems and dangers.  Every cultural groups and religious groups have its own sets of extremists while they also have a great number of good-hearted people.  To say that Muslims are dangerous people is very prejudicial and incredulous because it is only a small group of Muslims who do crazy things just like there is a small group of white Americans who do dangerous things too such as for example, a white Christian man who killed Dr. George Tiller and Jared Loughner who shot Gabrielle Giffords and other people at a political event.

No place is 100 percent safe.  We are already putting ourselves in risks everyday when we are a passenger in a car or a pedestrian walking across a street where we could be hit by a car, a neighbor shopping a food store where a murderer could shoot us, or a shopper browsing in the stores at a mall could get mugged.  In fact, the US is placed in 98th out of 197 countries and territories for the highest murder rate – 5.9 for every 100,000 person.  This is to say that we, Americans, are not living in a danger proof place.

And here is a food for thought: More people die from health related causes than from accidents.  Here are some tidbits from an article in Time magazine on risks:

Terrified of bees, snakes and swimming pools? ACCIDENTS 109,277 Maybe you should worry more about your heart DISEASES 2.3 million Other diseases 681,150 Diabetes 74,219 Chronic lower-respiratory disease 126,382 Stroke 157,689 Cancer 556,902 Heart disease 685,089 All other deaths 8,364 Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; National Transportation Safety Board.

Perhaps we should be more concerned about our health?

The writer of the article on risks also points out that while a few hundred people die in U.S. commercial airline accidents per year, about 44,000 people are killed in car accidents.

Instead of complaining and avoiding every possible risk, let’s travel afar to learn to appreciate other cultures and even strive to help improve the quality of life in every parts of the world.  If we continue to worry about dangers by not going anywhere, we’ll not be able to save the world.