Your first thought when I say the word “tourist” is probably not a good one. We all picture tourists being these annoying foreigners walking around with outdated maps, huge clunky cameras, and bags, apparently filled with all their worldly possessions, on their backs; working in lower Manhattan, I’ve come to know the image of a tourist quite well. But what I now propose is a complete change in connotation for these travelers.
Just think about what "tourism" actually is. It' the act of a single person, or group of people (usually a family), leaving their native society, culture, or region, to travel to a completely different society, culture, or region with one sole purpose; to collect information and learn. To learn.
The single reason that tourists even exist is that people inherently want to learn about things that they weren't taught while growing up. The reason so many people flock to Manhattan is because of how much history there is here. A great deal of you reading this (if anybody is reading this at all) have all gone through history class in high school and learned a significant about Manhattan's history and wouldn't consider yourselves "tourists" if you went to the city.
But imagine a family from a small European country who have never even seen a building over three stories tall; Imagine the family from Asia who have never seen more than a few cars in their entire lifetime; Imagine the African family who live in a village with less than one thousand people. Just imagine their reaction to seeing New York City.
So the next time you see that couple walking down the street, getting lost in the hustle and bustle of a city we've come to call home, please, I beg you, stop and ask if they could use some help. They're just trying to learn.
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