The Harker Speaker Series kicked off its 2009-10 season in grand fashion with the appearance of travel author and television personality Rick Steves, who discussed his newest book, “Travel as a Political Act.” Having traveled to Europe regularly since his teens, Steves began his travel writing career in the 1980s with the publication of  “Europe Through the Back Door.” He went on to author more than 40 books that specialize in traveling Europe cheaply and experiencing the less tourist-oriented aspects of European cultures. He now hosts the popular public television series “Rick Steves’ Europe” and organizes European tours for thousands of people each year, in addition to writing a syndicated newspaper column and hosting a weekly radio show. Steves spoke to a packed audience at the Saratoga gym, and was also seen via live video feed by audiences in Nichols Hall. The theme of his hour-long discussion was how Americans can use the experience of travel to improve their understanding of the world and its many different peoples. In so doing, they can help improve America’s relationship with the rest of the world. Learning about the key figures in a country’s history can teach us much about the culture and people, he said, citing El Salvador’s Archbishop Oscar Romero, an advocate for human rights who was assassinated for his outspoken stance. Steves compared him to the soldier Nathan Hale, who was captured and killed by the British during the Revolutionary War – understand the people’s heroes and you will understand their culture. He covered some of the key differences between Europeans and Americans, such as work habits. Europe, Steves said, is often criticized by Americans because its citizens make less money than those in the U.S. “The full story is not being told here,” Steves said. He pointed out that workers in Europe  actually make roughly the same hourly wage while choosing to work less. “Europeans are adamant about not working themselves into an early grave,” Steves said, noting that he was very happy to be an American citizen and would much rather run his business at home than abroad. “Because I love my country and love this way of life, I believe it is good style and patriotic to bring home a few challenges to encourage my neighbors to get it a little better,” Steves said. “We can learn from other people.” Toward the end of his presentation, Steves talked about his recent trip to Iran, saying he wanted to humanize its people. He confessed that he was nervous about visiting the country at first, a fear that was quickly assuaged. While stuck in traffic in Iran’s capital city of Tehran, a man in the next car handed Steves’ driver a bouquet of flowers, saying, “Give this to the foreigner in your backseat and apologize for our traffic.” He also shared the story of an Iranian woman who implored Steves to “tell the truth” about her country’s people: That they were strong, united and didn’t want their children to be “raised like Britney Spears.” These attributes, Steves said, are common among Americans who worry about how culture affects their offspring. “Think about their counterparts here that are most quick to hate Iran,” Steves said. “They’re good people, motivated by fear and love.” Steves said that among young people there is an opportunity to learn more about the world outside their borders and understand it, rather than fear it. “There’s a lot of fear being used against us these days,” he said, “and I’ve learned the flipside of fear so often is understanding.” He closed his presentation with an anecdote about a whirling Dervish he observed in Turkey. Whirling Dervishes are Muslim worshippers known for their distinct method of praying, which involves a circular dance that the Dervish does as a form of meditation. The Dervish explained to Steves that when he prays, he places one foot down to represent his home and family, and the other foot circles around, to praise the wonder and variety of God’s creation. One hand is raised to receive God’s love and another is lowered to bring this love down to his creation. He then begins whirling and entering his trance-like state. Steves said that the Dervish’s reverence of home, family and the world around him made them “fundamentally the same, and if I can go home with that appreciation, and then employ that broadened perspective as a citizen of this great nation, that’s the most powerful and beautiful souvenir, and that’s making travel a political act.” Following the presentation, Steves spent a brief period taking questions from the audience and signed books for his fans. Students interviewed after the event enjoyed Steves’ well-articulated and balanced perspective. Vamsi Vemereddy, Gr. 11, found the presentation “very interesting. I learned lots of different things about Europe, like how they view us.” Fellow junior Priya Sahdev said, “It makes you want to travel a lot more than I expected. I didn’t really know who [Steves] was when I was going in there, but going out of there, I really enjoyed the whole talk and I learned a lot from it.” “It was really educational to learn to learn about all these different places,” said Puneet Sidhu, Gr. 11. “It kind of makes me want to visit these places now, and have the experience myself.” Launched in 2007, the Harker Speaker Series invites inspiring, visionary individuals from a wide variety of fields to share their stories and expertise with Harker parents, students and faculty, as well as individuals from the larger community. For more information, visit http://www.harker.org/page.cfm?p=1307.[kml_flashembed publishmethod=”static” fversion=”8.0.0″ movie=”http://skylark.harker.org/hno/backups/wp-content/story-slideshows/Rick_Steves_October_29_2009/soundslider.swf” width=”500″ height=”400″ targetclass=”flashmovie”]