The New Year rolled in with a bang as a gunman took the lives of 39 people celebrating inside of an Istanbul nightclub, just moments after the clock struck midnight. At least 69 others were injured in the terrorist attack, now claimed by ISIS. The gunman also appears to still be at large. The victims of the shooting hailed from 14 different counties, and many of them were millennials: kids traveling abroad for what would be their first and last time. All of this comes just weeks after another fatal terrorist attack in Germany, where 12 lost their lives attending a Berlin Christmas market.
It is important that we recognized these incidences are not isolated acts of violence, but rather that they are the newest additions in a timeline of terror that has been shaking the world for the last decade. It’s a list that goes on and on, hitting home with big city names such as Brussels, Paris, and Nice. These are attacks which hurt globally, seeming to spare no country in the wake of victims left behind. So why do we keep traveling? Is it all worth it to put ourselves in harm’s way to go abroad?
Although fewer than 4 percent of US college students will actually choose to participate in a semester abroad, more and more are actually choosing to do so each year. It's a slow growth rate when compared to the number of students leaving other countries, but a growth rate nonetheless. So it's important that we recognize the wide variety of reasons contributing to this sluggish incline.
In a student’s desire to ultimately stay or go, we cannot rule out fear. It makes us hesitant, and the world seems like a more hostile place right now than it has ever been. With terrorism seemingly on the rise and media coverage of such events ever present, we can't help but feed fears both personal and parental. Leaving home just doesn’t seem safe, and who wouldn’t be worried when so many people their age have died the same way? It makes 2017 look downright terrifying. But that doesn't mean people aren't willing to take risks.
After all, there’s no one to say you couldn’t also get into your car tomorrow and hit a tree head on. And that’s just how life is. We have no idea how long we’re here for, and at the end of the day there’s only so much you can do to extend the time we’re given. Maybe it’ll be ISIS, but it could also be someone with a semi-automatic in a 7/11. So you have to ask yourself, whether you’re a student or a parent, if it’s really worth it to stay at home.
Because in times like these, nothing could be more pivotal than new ideas. Travel and study abroad create opportunities for students they just can’t get at home. It helps them to be better global citizens. It opens their hearts and minds to people different from them, and when violence has become so prevalent in our world we need that kind of empathy. We need students who are daring enough to risk the odds, all for the sake of making the world a better place.
2017 should be no more dangerous for students traveling abroad then it was in years before. Perhaps they’ll need to be a little more wary or a little more vigilant, but that all comes with the territory anyway. They’ll be in new places, meeting new people and trying new things. And behind them, they’ll have dedicated staff and professors. People who were already trying to make sure their students were as safe as possible. So go for it.
Go abroad. Make the world a better place in 2017.
