You know, the interesting thing about having traveled around the

When Lesley Gore reflected, “You know, the interesting thing about having traveled around the country as much as I have, and I think it’s sort of inadvertently what made me come out or at least begin doing things within the community and thinking more about that, was that I get to travel quite a bit,” she spoke of a journey far greater than the miles she crossed. Her words reveal how movement through the world awakens not only the eye, but the heart. By encountering many lives, many voices, and many landscapes, she was moved toward self-discovery and toward the courage to live more openly.

The meaning of her words is layered with truth. To travel is to break free from the walls of one’s own village, to see how others live, to recognize that one’s own identity is not isolated but part of a greater human tapestry. For Gore, the constant travel across her country was more than performance and career—it was exposure to diversity, to new ways of being, to the strength of communities that dared to live authentically. It was through these encounters that she found within herself the seeds of honesty, the beginning of her coming out, and the awakening of her voice within her own community.

History offers parallels. Consider the journey of St. Augustine, who as a young man traveled from North Africa to Rome and Milan. In those travels, he encountered philosophies, communities, and teachers that transformed him, leading him at last to the truth of his own convictions. Or recall Mahatma Gandhi, who first discovered his voice for justice not in India, but in South Africa, where he faced injustice and learned the power of nonviolent resistance. In both cases, as with Lesley Gore, it was travel that became the forge of identity, the teacher of self.

There is something heroic in this confession. To say that movement across the land helped her come out is to show that identity is not fixed in solitude. It ripens when exposed to others—when one sees not only the narrow expectations of home, but the vastness of possibility. Gore’s words remind us that freedom often comes when we realize we are not alone, that there are others who share our struggles, and that truth spoken in one place may echo across many. Travel thus becomes both an outward and inward pilgrimage.

The lesson here is universal: do not shrink your world. If you remain always in one place, you risk believing the limits around you are unbreakable. But if you travel, whether across a nation or into new communities of thought and art, you will find mirrors of yourself, and in those mirrors, courage. Exposure to the diversity of life awakens both compassion for others and honesty within oneself. The one who walks far learns not only about the world but about the secret chambers of their own heart.

In practical action, this means: seek out experiences that stretch you beyond the familiar. Speak with people different from you, enter communities where your assumptions may be tested, and allow yourself to learn. If you are on a journey of identity, let travel—whether physical or intellectual—be part of your teacher. Do not fear the new, for in it you may find the strength to live more truly.

Thus, Lesley Gore’s words, born of her own wanderings, stand as a torch for all who seek authenticity: “It was that I get to travel quite a bit.” The miles she traveled became the steps of self-discovery, and the communities she touched became the soil where her truth took root. So may it be with us all—that in walking the earth, we learn to walk more boldly within ourselves, and in knowing the world, we come at last to know who we truly are.