In tonight's installment of the Katie and Sarah tete-a-tete, Katie confronted Sarah on her lack of a passport for the first forty-something years of her life. Snarky Sarah said she had not grown up in a family where the parents gave their kid a passport and a backpack upon graduation and that she had had to work two jobs until the kids came along.
Listen you snarky little faux class warrior, you assume that only rich people travel overseas. Take for example, military personnel and their families. They may have the opportunity to travel and/or live abroad. How about missionaries? They aren't necessarily folks whose parents have given them . . .
What about Peace Corps Volunteers? Thousands of Americans have gone overseas to work in Third and Fourth World Countries (did Sen. McCain's handlers explain the difference between Third and Fourth World?) as teachers, mid-wives, beekeepers, nurses, etc.
Then there are many students who study abroad. I saved and borrowed and did an internship in Pinochet's Chile. And then there are the exchange students. Many rely on scholarships to afford the several-month or year-long stay overseas.
Finally, many people cultivate relationships with non-Americans who are here in the United States. They do this both to welcome the newcomers and to learn about the outside world.
If the world beyond the fifty states had been important to you you would have done more than "rely on books" to develop a worldview of the world outside the United States.