February 10th 2013
I awoke early, grabbed my already backed bag, and began
walking down the road which parallels the massive Irrawaddy River, keeping an
eye out for the ticket office.
Government buildings in Myanmar, and perhaps everywhere
else, stand out. Their universal aesthetic informs onlookers that inside, adults
wearing uninspiring costumes have chosen to play bureaucrat. Surly service is
to be expected. I walked through the exterior gate of this tiny administrative
building and saw the lone employee. He was reading the paper and having some
tea, as many people in Myanmar do to start their day. With languid administration
of his hand, the man felled a corner of the newspaper. The slowly falling
corner revealed a face with spectacles riding low the nose. It was the man who
had sold me the ticket yesterday.
“No boat.” He said, recognizing me. “Come back 9 o’clock” he
said with a self-assured nod. He quickly reconstructed his paper fortress with
a firming snap. Although I could not read the bolded headline on the front
page, the message was clear: This window is now closed.
I was neither surprised nor upset. In fact, I figured the
boat would be delayed because the river was low. And in fact, I wanted to leave
later than scheduled as we were scheduled to arrive in Mandalay at 1am. I was
praying for a delay. I didn’t expect to leave a 9am either, but that wouldn’t
matter anyhow. Travel has taught me the value in having no expectations,
especially on long trips. This important lesson should be extended to all areas
of one’s life; the reasons why become
clearer to me every day.
When traveling, guide books may say one thing and a person
arrives only to discover that the opposite of what was read would better describe
the reality of the place as they perceive it. Thus, a necessary consequence of
travel is the inward journey. Travel is mirror which reflects how the perceiver
perceives the myriad situations one encounters.
To travel with no expectations is to be free of burdensome judgments.
This way of being comes naturally to the long term traveler, for if it does not
travel is experienced as a pendulum that swings between moments of enjoyment
when things are going as planned and moments of disappointment when they are
not. This is exhausting, and travel becomes a chore of looking or waiting for
the next high. On long terms trips, it is far better to let the experience be
as it is, and not make judgments about how it “should” be.
As applied in life, having no expectations might better be
phrased as accepting what is. Having an emotional reliance on that which is not
yet so can only cause harm. On close examination, it can be seen that, for the
vast majority of cases, having expectations is useless. This is not the same
thing as having no goals, desires, or plans for the future. This are all good
things that should be developed and nourished. With or without expectations,
one arrives at the same place. Why set yourself up to be disappointed?
In his old age W.B. Yeats reflected “When I think of all the
books I have read, wise words heard, anxieties given to parents… of hope I have
had, all life weighed in the balance seems to be a preparation for something
that never happens” One has to wonder what he was expecting, or rather, why he
was expecting anything thing at all.
And so I took the news of the delay with equanimity. The
goal oriented part of my mind was piqued, for this is its nature. However, I’ve
learned to when and how to ignore it. I was still traveling, and still on the
same trip. I whittled away delay after delay with prodigious amounts of reading
an tea. None of the other travelers seemed to mind terribly either. Eventually,
all travelers intuit this maxim:
“Better to travel happily than to arrive”.