Bourdain

"Travel isn't always pretty. It isn't always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that's okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind." -- Anthony Bourdain

I was not happy to hear the news of Anthony Bourdain's passing this morning.

I loved his shows, because it tapped into my sense of wanderlust and my curiosity of the world in which we live. He did an excellent job of providing cultural and historical context to the places he visited, and by doing so educated us as viewers and broadened our understanding of other peoples and places.

As much as anything, though, I loved his sense of authenticity: he demonstrated an authentic respect for other peoples and other cultures. Although different people of different places may not always agree on certain things, the demonstration of mutual respect should -- in an ideal world -- exist and guide us at all times.

I'll continue to watch his shows on repeat, and I'll be sad that he's no longer with us to take us on more journeys.