I spent 6 months backpacking alone through India in 2018 & 2019, traveling primarily by overnight bus.

As a 6-foot tall tattooed white man I was monetarily taken advantage of many times, and viewed alternately as a walking ATM or photo opportunity wherever I went. But by God’s providence I was never physically assaulted nor meaningfully threatened.

However, I also traveled for 3 years in preparation to visit the country. I had learned hard lessons of situational awareness and personal security. Despite that, it took all my strength to complete the journey through India. It was the conclusion of my travels for a reason.

Many times I did see malice in the eyes of moto-taxi drivers, though. And I heard stories of tourists being driven to remote locations and blackmailed out of their belongings by cab drivers, which is why taxi security at New Delhi airport is such a huge deal.

India is not a safe country to travel in. While not “dangerous” like a country at war, it is a nation of unimaginable corruption at levels that would shock an average Westerner. And it is barely civilized even in many popular locations, like Agra where the Taj Mahal is. Especially because your skin color marks you as a target in ways you can’t hide.

Liberal Americans have this view of the rest of the melanated world as one big song of Kumbaya, crying out against the oppression of the white West.

This could not be further from the truth.

Violence, bigotry, and hatred are standard operating practice of the residents of many countries. Members of foreign nations express racism to and about each other that make our “micro aggressions” look like a sneeze. Such people laugh at our naive ignorance of the way the world really is, which is why Westerners are often such easy marks. (Not suggesting this couple.)

America, Aus/NZ and Europe are the safest regions on Earth in part because the Christian West regards each human being as made in the image of God. We are not mere fantasies suffering through the illusion of Samsara, as in Hinduism and Buddhism.

Human rights came from the Christian tradition for this reason.

And no religion on Earth has ever honored women as much as Christianity does. Christ spoke with and healed women (Luke 8, John 4), even appearing to them first in His resurrected form in all four Gospels. (Matt 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20)

This was a profound affirmation of the innate value of women, in a Jewish and Roman culture that regarded them far lower in value than men.

So when feminism demolished the Christian West under the banner of “smash the patriarchy” it actually invited a level of barbarism towards women that they had previously been largely sheltered from, by God’s decree.

Yes there were and are abusive men in the West. Just as there were and are many, many good people in the East.

But life as a woman in Europe and America far surpasses the safety and security of life of a woman in the East. The British ended the Hindu practice of Sati (widows burning themselves on the pyre of their husbands) during colonization, for example. And look up what Gandhi said about women and how he treated them, sometime. And then there’s Islam.

The great blessing of my solo travels was that I got to see many beautiful things about the more than 30 countries I visited, including India. But I also got to see them for what they are.

I firmly maintain that true global travel will turn anyone into a raging conservative. It did me.

I pray for the speedy recovery for this couple and that it does not make them bitter. It easily could.

I would prefer it make them honest, which I imagine it will.