December 9, 2023
WHAT’S REALLY THERE
When Max Rice was just a kid, he discovered his deep love for the world. Between flags, maps, and people themselves— there’s not a single thing in the world that he isn’t completely enamored with. He takes just as much enjoyment exploring his birthplace, Charlotte, as he does researching countries across the world. This fondness for Mother Earth has led Max to take up hobbies such as Geoguesser; memorizing maps of the world, continents, and country maps; memorizing country flags; and, of course, traveling.
Max also possesses a quality to see an inherent goodness in everyone. As a result of this, he is troubled by the fact that many people have pre-conceived notions about other people and places and are completely content with that; it’s very rare that people go out of their way to correct, or even affirm, these perceptions. Because of this, Max feels a strong conviction to break these notions, develop opinions of his own, and hopefully share his findings with others.
Compassion is Key
When encompassed so completely by the beauty of this planet we inhabit, it becomes hard to imagine how there’s any hate in the world. Nonetheless, hatred remains.
Really. There’s a lot of it. Max believes the reason for this hatred is that those who possess it don’t truly understand what they’re hating.
To him, if you get to know something even a little beyond surface level, your hatred will cease. Not only that, but your life as a whole will improve, as you’ll become kinder and assume the best in every situation or of any person.
Max’s independent research and his travels have led to the happiness he has in his current life. Gaining understanding of those previously unfamiliar to him has more than just changed his perception on global issues—his day-to-day life has massive improved, too! Talking to strangers is never scary, anxiety-inducing situations are suddenly encouraging, and the bright side of things never dims.
An obvious Revelation
Although he now lives as an impressively open-minded individual, Max hasn’t always had this perspective on life. In fact, despite his love for geography and much else of what the world has to offer, he didn’t come into this worldview until his freshman year of high school, when he went to Costa Rica for the first time.
On this trip, he went to areas that needed assistance in constructing houses and schools. There, he noticed that everyone was unusually happy compared to how they are generally presented to American audiences. At the time, this was mind-breaking. This revelation taught him that there is always more than what lies beneath the surface, and there is always more to learn about others. It helped him realize how human every person truly is.
Despite this revelation, Max isn’t infallible He describes this as the case during his trips to Paris and Utah, where he found that many people broke his preconceived notions. When traveling to Paris, he went in with the classic stereotype that they were all rude, but he found that some of his favorite moments on the trip were his interactions with random Parisians, such as taxi drivers.
In Utah, he visited a Mormon community and found out that the members were… surprisingly normal. When one thinks of Mormon, they tend to think of the large families, the the horses, the strange beliefs, the Bible studies, etc. And while these are all true, they also do normal things. Max even played Fortnite with one of the kids and they won.
A Symptom of the Disease
One city that Max has done extensive research on is Beirut, Lebanon. He fell completely in love with the country, its struggles, and its converse prosperity. He even wrote his college essay for UNC about it.
Being an avid Geoguesser player, he has had the opportunity to see what the city has to offer, and it’s beautiful. In fact, the header photo is one of the city.
Unfortunately, the media portrayal of the city is rather negative, as well as the subsequent public perception. This is a result of a port explosion back in 2020. Max takes major issue with this, finding it incredibly damaging.
It’s not healthy for a city at all for an explosion to be the first thing to come to mind when presented with it. It’s really such a shame that such a gorgeous site now has the potential to be labeled by many decrepit, dangerous, unlivable area for times to come.
The Solution? Touch Grass.
For Max, the best way to develop this understanding was, essentially, to go outside. Well, outside is a bit of an understatement in his case. He’s traveled all over and done more research for fun than many will do in a lifetime.
Though, independent studying isn’t for everyone, and it’s no secret that travel is expensive, so there’s no rush to get out there. Actually, a surprisingly large portion of Americans have never left the country, much less the state! Thankfully, though, travel isn’t the end-all-be-all. As Max puts it, “I’ve simply been very fortunate to be able to do these type of things.”
An equally effective method to connecting with others is simply exploring your community. You certainly don’t know everything about everyone around you. There are unique people no matter where you go.
Furthermore, knowing people locally is knowing people everywhere. Though, there will always be cultural differences between different continents, countries, states, and even cities and towns; at the end of the day, people are still people and will always act like people. You can reach points of agreement and connection with anyone if you go in with an open mind.
There are strangers everywhere, but they don’t have to be.
Maxton Rice
Full video:
WHAT’S
THERE
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(REALLY)
Citations
https://genesight.com/news-and-press/depression-disconnect-genesight-mental-health-monitor-shows-misunderstanding-of-depression-and-treatment/
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/02654075221089903
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0092656608000925?via%3Dihub
https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology/talk-strangers
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lealane/2019/05/02/percentage-of-americans-who-never-traveled-beyond-the-state-where-they-were-born-a-surprise/?sh=654c9ab22898
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/08/12/most-americans-have-traveled-abroad-although-differences-among-demographic-groups-are-large
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/08/12/most-americans-have-traveled-abroad-although-differences-among-demographic-groups-are-large/ft_2021-08-12_internationaltravel_03/
