To walk across Bangladesh

While I was cleaning my house the other day, I came across an old notebook of mine, written 24 years ago in Argentina, precisely half a lifetime ago.

Housecleaning, "Squaw work", my Alaskan friend Jason used to call it (or anything else he was incapable of doing) has often been the epicentre of my personal life-changing earthquakes. Twenty-four years ago, I was berating myself for the dingy condition of my very first apartment. In bold letters, I wrote in my diary – "How can anyone hope to change the world if he can't even clean his own home???" Well, I guess you can improve bad habits over time. In 2011, my house is clean. Maybe it's finally time for me to think about helping to change the world, or at least to celebrate the amazing changes made by others.

I'll start with a letter to you all.

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'Dear Readers, I want to reveal to you a secret desire of my heart. I want to celebrate the anniversary of your Independence with a walk across Bangladesh. I imagine myself following a rainbow-like 2000 km. route, from East to West, travelling with a handful of your people who are a cross-section of your society. I want to learn from all of them. I want to be joined by a school teacher, a university intellectual, a street kid, a rich kid, a poet, a businessman, a retired cricket player, an imam, a factory worker, someone from the AL and someone from the BNP. I want to walk with someone who was there in 1971. I want to walk with someone who was born in this millennium and who aspires to lead his or her people. I want to learn your language and immerse myself in your customs. I want to help you celebrate your Independence, and I want to carry the lessons I learn from your history to my own people, write a book, maybe plant a few trees. I can't do much, but I know I can walk.'

Yes. I'm crazy. And no, I don't care.

The danger of having a public forum is that if a writer descends into the lunacy of a 3AM idea and publishes the said idea, his readers just might hold his feet, almost literally, to the fire, and invite him to put his money where his mouth is.

The lucky thing for me is that my mouth is way bigger than my wallet.

Still, the difference between insane ideas and inspired ones are measured in terms of success. A crazy idea that works is no longer a crazy idea.

My motivation for this walk isn't the same as those of the thrill-seekers who want to climb Mount Everest. I have absolutely no interest in scaling the icy heights of the world for a few minutes of oxygen-aided sightseeing, while risking the loss of the tip of my prominent nose. I am way more horizontally-oriented. I don't think any Odyssey is worth embarking upon that does not include an opportunity to make new friends. In our overpopulated, virtualised, globally marketed world, each of us has an obligation to bear testimony to the mercy and compassion of the God that gave us life. We must celebrate the human heights to which God allows us to ascend. I count your Independence as one of those great pinnacles.

I am shocked that a country that has such a story to tell is so universally ignored here in the capital of the world. Why is it that evildoers can strap bombs to themselves and co-opt the American audience? The spotlight should shine instead on corners of the world where attention can actually effect positive change for people that have struggled so hard to be free.

Isn't shining a spotlight on you my duty as an American?

By virtue of the Revolution, Americans are charged to help let freedom ring. This doesn't mean storming beaches, building oil pipelines, or flying drones into enemy targets. This means making friends in distant corners of the world where the Spirit of '71 has found its kindred. By walking Bangladesh, I would hope to remind my own people of a precious Declaration to which a brave group of idealistic of men pledged "Their Lives, their Fortunes and their Sacred Honour".

My personal experience with walking has taken me on yearly two-week 250 mile journeys across New Jersey with seven adults and 21 children. As a group, our walkers have had close encounters with black bears, swarms of bees, and unpredictable weather (If you want to take a closer look check out www.walkingabout.org). I have discovered that by taking one's time and by travelling a road on foot, the pedestrian is able to appreciate the adage "God is in the details" to its fullest extent.

Were I to make such a journey in Bangladesh, it would require intense preparation, of both a linguistic and a physical nature. I would have to go into training, to learn and to understand the limits of my Western physique in terms of what I would need to provision this team (like what I could drink, what shots I'd need, how I would have to conduct myself to adjust to weather conditions, etc).

I would need to intensify my search for proper teachers of your language. This is no easy matter. To date, I have not found a textbook, not even a good piece of computer software to help me. Logistically, I do not know the routes. In short, I would need you, Dear Readers- your help, your suggestions, and your opinions. My main question is… what route should I take? What should be included along the way? What would the reaction be to such a journey? And, of course, who would come with me?

Ultimately, my desire would be to establish a beachhead of friendship on your democratic shores, to walk in your sandals, to speak in your cadences, and perhaps to reflect your own realities back to you with an American accent. I would hope to let my own people back home know that we have Democratic friends in Bangladesh. A Quixotic idea, perhaps, but at least worth considering.

If WikiLeaks has taught us anything, it's that diplomacy has absolutely nothing to do with the reality of the average person's life. Who are the true representatives of the nations? Whoever we declare them to be. I can friend you on facebook 'til the cows come home (or cross the border), but unless we are courageous enough to step down from our virtual "clouds", how can we hope to find common ground?

Having said all that, I know my walk is a pipe dream, and that it is possible that no one there in Bangladesh might have any interest in such a project. But I wanted to put it out there, at least as an intellectual exercise, and perhaps a point of embarkation for future articles.

Regardless of the outcome, I want you to know that your history is capable of moving this American, not just emotionally, but actually inspiring me to walk. So many of your people died, and so many who are left behind have suffered the loss of loved ones in order that I may have the freedom to write these words to you week after week. I don't know your heroes, I don't speak their language, and we don't even share a common religion. Still, I will not forget the debt I owe them. I will do all that is within my puny power to make sure that my neighbours here in America celebrate their sacrifice. The world owes your people its respect and admiration. It must become invested in your success.

My greatest desire when I write is that in some small way my words may be worthy of the tremendous sacrifices that were made to allow them to find purchase on your shore.

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In the course of human events, we can easily leave a very big mess on this planet for our children to clean up. But I've learned that if I am careful, I do have at least enough discipline of character to make the world little bit less chaotic. I am an impatient man, I say more than I should, and I shoot from the hip. Twenty-four years from the words in my journal, these character flaws haven't disappeared. The insight I have gained in these additional decades is that life is a continually humbling experience. The bold declarations we make as we embark upon the path to wisdom are constantly challenged by the awesome and terrible truths that face us as we put one foot in front of the other. But that won't ever stop me from wanting to walk.

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Frank Domenico Cipriani writes a weekly column in the Riverside Signal called "You Think What You Think And I'll Think What I Know." He is also the founder and CEO of The Gatherer Institute — a not-for-profit public charity dedicated to promoting respect for the environment and empowering individuals to become self-taught and self-sufficient. His most recent book, "Learning Little Hawk's Way of Storytelling", is scheduled to be released by Findhorn Press in May of 2011.