Barry  D. Hampshire

Having been retired for a number of years, I have found time to focus on my writing and redefine who I am.  For years, I worked as a computer system architect, but that mask dissolved with retirement.  A second mask as a volunteer hospital chaplain has continued, and my time commitment in this capacity has expanded.

Now, I primarily identify myself as a writer: an identity I would never have dreamt of in years past.  But here I am.  Most of the material I write about concerns travel that I enjoyed as a younger man.  I have traveled to some areas that are no longer considered safe today.  My stories connect readers with a world where people seemed to have compassion and respect for one another.  That is not to say that the world was less violent.  It was not, but the violence was not so arbitrary as it feels nowadays.

If there was one lesson I learned over the years, it was this simple truth.  Schooling and college were important as a basis for a fulfilling life, but to truly learn about life and people, we needed to travel.  For me, travel did not mean taking a cruise or a bus tour.  Travel was engaging with people from other cultures who had different values and views from mine – which pushed me outside my comfort zone.

I was born and raised in England until I was 26.  I worked for four years in the Middle East.  In my early 30s, I moved to the U.S., where I have lived ever since.  I admit that the Middle East is now too challenging for my comfort zone, but I recognize that the vast majority of the region’s people are kind, generous and wonderful.  I am saddened by the fear some people hold for Muslims and the apparent void between us. We are all humans.