The stranger: Not Camus, not Joel, but Theroux

Paul Theroux articulates so well the various jumbled thoughts that run through my head and which I am simply incapable of transforming into meaningful and powerful sentences and paragraphs.  I am, therefore, not at all surprised that Theroux knows exactly how I feel when I travel to any strange place:

It is hard to be a stranger. A traveler may have no power, no influence, no known identity. That is why a traveler needs optimism and heart, because without confidence travel is misery. Generally, the traveler is anonymous, ignorant, easy to deceive, at the mercy of the people he or she travels among. The traveler might be known as “the American” or “the Foreigner,” and there is no power in that.

It is quite easy to stay in our respective villages and feel connected and important, and not be a stranger.  "Where everybody knows your name" as Cheers told us.  But, then it is a huge world, and it will be awful not to find out more about it. By ourselves. As strangers.