DAmato 1

Adriane A. DAmato
Sheila Fielding
WRTC 103
31 January 2016
Globetrotters
The expression globetrotter is defined as a person who travels widely. This is a group
that I, along with my cousins, am a part of. My family and I would not be a part of this group if it
werent for my grandmother who is the original explorer of my family. She desires to explore all
parts of the world that she is able and to also share it with her grandchildren. I categorize myself
as a globetrotter because of an instilled love for travel. Travel has given me a new mindset of
connectivity with others and an acceptance of all cultures by forcing me to look at the world
through the eyes of others.
The word globetrotter is used today in a very different manner from the way that the term
originated. The term became a widely used expression in the 1930s in the U.S. soon after the
Harlem Globetrotters basketball team was founded in 1926. This basketball team was created at a
time where the segregation of race was a major part of life in America, and the team was
predominantly black. Even through the times of segregation they became widely known and
appreciated for their talents and comedic antics on the court, thus making them famous for all
kinds of people to watch for entertainment. The team was known as the Globetrotters because
they traveled all around the world to play games at a time which travel was not as easily
accessible as it is today. The Harlem Globetrotters originated the use of the word globetrotter but
it did not stop being used once the team came to an end. People took on the word to describe
individuals who travel more than your average person and who go to exotic areas.

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Having shared being a part of this community with my family makes it even more special
to me. I find myself to be a globetrotter because I have traveled to areas of the world that I would
not have realized the value in going to without my grandmothers influence. My grandmothers
love to explore was not something that she could, or wanted, to keep to herself; she brought me
into this community that I now identify with so deeply and has been with me every step of the
way thus far. For the majority of my trips, I traveled solely with my grandmother, but for some
all of my cousins went together. This brought me closer than I ever would have been with my
cousins who all live in different parts of the country. Another person I got to share some of these
trips with was my brother, and that is something that neither of us will ever forget and something
that gives us shared mindsets and values in life.
The reason I chose to define us as globetrotters and not as vacation-goers or tourists is
because it was never my grandmothers goal to take my cousins and I on vacations. This was the
opposite of what she wanted, she didnt want us to remember her taking us to go sit on a beach
somewhere but she wanted us to learn from the places that she took us to. She always said that
travel was another form of education that not everyone gets to receive, and she is right. I have
learned to much from the places that she brought me to no matter where in the world it was. My
grandmothers life goal was to take all six of her grandchildren to the seven continents and even
after achieving this goal in 2014 she continues to travel.
The first place that my grandmother ever took me was to New York City when I was in
the third grade. This was the farthest I had ever been from home and the longest I had ever been
away from my parents. Even being so young, I remember not even thinking about the distance
because I had so much to distract me. The city was so big, the people were all different and I
wanted to learn all about this place. Without even realizing it, I was falling in love with the

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unknown. Every place that I traveled brought me closer to the values I now hold so deeply, but
the last continent I went to was vital in my understanding of the world today. When my
grandmother took me to Asia, it was also my brothers and cousins last one to check off the list,
and we went to India together.
India was her choice because of her belief that understanding the world hands on, and not
from the windows of a tour bus, is an important form of education. Of the places that she has
taken us, India taught me the most about the world and the way people live in it. The Ganges
River in India is a place that I will never forget. On a wall above scattered piles of waste the
words, Blessed are those who reside on the banks of the Ganges, were painted and at first
glance this quote did not seem to fit with its surroundings. Watching children play in mountains
of trash by day, and pulling cardboard scraps over themselves as blankets at night, did not
connect with the notion of living a blessed life, yet all the people seemed exceptionally happy.
The people of India keep in the mindset that they are blessed, and the longer I stayed, the more I,
too, believed that they are. Anybody could have been born into their world, and I learned not to
judge these people, or anyone else, for any reason.
It was in India that I learned how to immerse myself in someone elses experiences and
look at the world from their perspective, not my own. I previously understood my grandmothers
mission as one of being grateful for what I have, and giving back as a result of my own privilege.
Varanasi was where I learned that its not about me; its about seeing what others value and hold
close to them. After this trip, I became invested in experiencing the world from the beliefs,
values, and cultures of others. Being in the heart of the everyday movement of Varanasi made me
look at the world with new eyes. The people of the Ganges showed me the value and importance
of connectivity. Through love they nurture each other and celebrate their lives. I was inspired to

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surround myself with people whom I love and care for, people whom I have a positive effect on
and who have the same effect on me.
When I first began traveling, the people who I met in foreign lands seemed worlds away
from me, but India brought every person I have interacted with from other parts of the world
very close to my heart. The people I met in Varanasi did not know what kind of world I came
from, and they did not care. They live the way they know how and are happy every day, and I do
my best to constantly remind myself of this. Without traveling I would not have these values that
I now hold so close. To me, being a globetrotter means immersing myself in the places that I
have traveled and being open to traveling to places that seem less than ideal. Although my
grandmother achieved her goal, my family and I still plan to trot around the globe for years to
come.

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Works Cited
"Harlem Globetrotters." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Britannica Academic. Encyclopdia
Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 26 Jan. 2016.