I didn't go abroad until quite late. A friend drove us to

The words of David Harewood—“I didn’t go abroad until quite late. A friend drove us to Amalfi, Italy, for his sister’s wedding when I was a teenager. It was exciting driving through Europe.”—carry with them the wonder of first journeys and the way a single event, such as a wedding, can open the doors of the world. What he describes is more than a trip; it is the awakening of the soul to the vastness of life beyond familiar borders. In that drive through Europe, the heart of a young man was stretched, learning that the world is greater than the streets of his youth.

The wedding in Amalfi was not only a celebration of love but also the catalyst for transformation. For weddings gather not only families but also experiences, journeys, and discoveries. In following a friend’s family across nations, Harewood found himself not merely a guest at a union, but a pilgrim on a path toward broader horizons. Thus, a personal ceremony became a gateway into history, art, and culture.

History recalls the tale of Goethe, who traveled to Italy in his thirties after years of confinement in Germany. His journey through Rome, Naples, and Sicily opened his mind and reshaped his art, giving birth to new brilliance. Just as Goethe’s Italian sojourn became a turning point, so too did Harewood’s journey to Amalfi become a first spark, igniting the hunger to see, to know, to live beyond the edges of the familiar.

The excitement of driving through Europe is not simply about scenery—it is about freedom. To cross borders by road is to witness the slow unfolding of the continent: languages changing, landscapes shifting, cultures revealing themselves one by one. For a teenager, this is revelation, a proof that life is larger than the confines of birthplace. What began as a favor—a ride to a wedding—became instead a memory of liberation, a moment when the soul caught a glimpse of infinity.

Therefore, O listener, take heed: journeys often begin in the service of others. In going to celebrate a friend’s sister’s wedding, Harewood found more than festivity—he found the first stirring of destiny, the awakening of curiosity that fuels a lifetime. So too may your greatest adventures begin in places you never expected, in roads taken not for yourself but for another. And in those moments, you may find that the world, once vast and unreachable, suddenly opens to welcome you.