World Jamboree

Over the past two weeks the 24th World Scout Jamboree has taken place with one of our own going. From ziplines to escape rooms, kayaking to climbing, crossbow to skateboarding it had it all. All of this wrapped up in the greenery of The Summit in West Virginia made for a time to remember. However while the activities were a major part of the event if I were to only mention them I'd be leaving out a major part of the event. The Jamboree ended up making the largest city in West Virginia while it was still active, numbering over 48,000 people, and the sheer diversity of the people there was astounding. As one might expect because of the 170 countries there most of the people aren't American and as such a major component of the event is the human one. The event is intended to function as a means to meet people of other lands and to make lasting friendships with people from all over the world. This focus ends up also giving any who go a certain amount of perspective as to the differences and similarities between the people of the world. As such it ended up being an experience that emphasized the potential for mutual understanding between people of all lands given a weak language barrier.