“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” – Maya Angelou
I’m out of my office on travel right now, for work, and I’m enjoying it even more than I thought I would.
Why? Partly because delivering our flagship workshop on Respectful Leadership in person, in the same physical space with trainees, is more effective than delivering it virtually. (Although virtual training is a close second).
But mostly I’m enjoying being on the road because it’s refreshing to find that the folks I’m working with, and the people I’m encountering in airports, on my flights and in hotels and restaurants, all appear to be calm, reasonable, and friendly. As far as I can tell, they are not among the rabid, extremist, stressed-out, politically polarized Americans so often highlighted in the media. Phew!
Granted, this is all anecdotal evidence on my part, and since I’m in the American south, I could be experiencing that famous southern hospitality everyone always talks about.
Then again, I’m traveling in the part of the American south where the world’s mega corporations, and the federal government, have long settled in to do business. The diversity they bring – of race, experience, talent, skills, education, gender identity, politics and thought, and respect for all of these, is palpable, as it should be. To be certain, I’m not encountering the negative stereotypical south so often maligned in the movies, TV op-eds, and in political speech.
That’s not to say it isn’t here, I’m just not experiencing it.
So, as much as being on the road for work can be a pain in the tuchus, on this particular trip (two cities and two programs in five days), I’m having a good time.
This is my way of saying to you: if you can, get out and about! Travel and meet people who are different from you; enjoy and revel in those differences. If you do, you may realize that, as Maya Angelou teaches, we’re not really all that different from each other after all.
