How to Travel by The School of Life

Author:The School of Life [Life, The School of]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781912891177
Publisher: The School of Life Press
Published: 2018-12-18T23:00:00+00:00

18.

In Defence of Crowds

It’s fashionable, of course, to hate crowds. Good travellers are always complaining about them. Perhaps we ascended Mount Pilatus in Switzerland early in the morning and were disgusted to find that there were already several dozen people at the summit, or we went to Athens to look at the Parthenon and we were appalled by how many groups were wandering about the ruins.

Our distress is very real. But if we examine our annoyance in detail, it turns out that it’s not actually the presence of lots of other people that is bothering us so much. Crucially, there are certain occasions when we have a powerfully positive experience of being in a crowd. If we’re attending – for instance – the Olympic Opening Ceremony, it’s deeply thrilling to feel that we’re sharing moments of collective pride with many others in an atmosphere of dignity and prowess. Or, if we’re at a religious service in a cathedral, the grandeur and solemnity of the occasion is profoundly enhanced by the fact that thousands of people are at the same time rising to their feet and singing a hymn, or simultaneously contemplating the errors of their lives and seeking forgiveness for the wrongs they have all done to one another.

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