I don't often talk on these subjects. It hits too close to home for many people. I have however, grown comfortable enough with you folks that care to read my odd ramblings to give you a window to my soul. (I even cracked myself up with that last line).
On any given project, I wind up with a "punch-list" at the end. It covers the last list of items that need completion. It is presented as a "bullet=point" listing. (I hate powerpoint presentations).
Follow me below the Kos-Swha, and I will share my secrets......
Here are my points.
* In life, things work or they don't. The ones that work, you keep. The one's that don't, you fix. If you can't fix them, Let it go.
*In politics, things that work should be lauded. Things that don't, should be discarded.
* In religion, if what-ever they preach speaks to you, live it. What other people preach should have no value, and pose no threat to your beliefs. If someone's beliefs threaten yours, you should perhaps question your beliefs. After all, they believe, why can't you?
* Race, the third rail. I've met and worked with many races. I've had the leisure of choosing who I liked and disliked without any preconceived notions. I either like people or not, based upon our interactions, not what country they were born to.
( I praise my now gone family for that gift).
* Gender equality, the fourth rail. I've hired and fired several women in my career. The one's fired performed poorly. The success stories involved women that took responsibility for their actions, and stood up to me when I was wrong in my assumptions. They also never played upon their disability of being a "girl" in a man's world.
All in all, I have conducted my life with one mantra, "Always be slightly more useful than you are annoying". Treat people well and you will mostly find the same returned. I have based a career, and a 30 year marriage on that mantra, so far it's worked.
* As an example, in 1997, I was working in France, and found myself in a laundramat on a Saturday morning with a Rastafarian about 8 foot tall, and ultimately scarey to a lil' white millrat from the 'States. I couldn't figure out how to get detergent from the machine, He laughed at me and demonstrated that you needed to have your own container.
As we mimed to each other through the complete language barrier, we were rolling on the floor laughing before we were done. I was his version of an idiot. He introduced me to his friends, and I spent a summer with some great people, from Africa, New Zealand, France, Switzerland, Germany, and Sweden. I spent nights with the most beautiful black lady I ever have met discussing American foreign policy, and days discussing with a Swedish guy how his country was far more advanced socially.
I was 20 years their senior, but they relished the access to new ideas. None of them had ever talked with an American. I only hope I left a good impression. I would not have had that experience if I was automatically afraid of those different from me.
Example 2, In 1994, I hopped into a car in Neuveo Loredo with a Mexican kid for a ride to a job interview, and proceeded to ride through the desert wondering if I was a kidnap victim. Big language barrier, but I risked it, and after the interview, he showed me a side of his town that few gringo's see. I was under his protection, and had no fear after not dying from the initial encounter.
* Example 3. My company formed a partnership with a Japanese company in the late '80s. They wanted to send a group from the company to Japan to learn their processes. I missed the first group because of a death in my wife's family, the second when my house burned down, and I was the third group, alone.
When I first arrived, all I heard from my hosts is how rude my predecessors were. They refused to eat anything other than western cuisine. Apparently, I am part Japanese, because I was shamed by my colleagues, and vowed to go native. I went where they brought me and ate what they ate. I still think several cooks were laughing behind the kitchen door as they wondered if I would eat "that". LOL.
I was told to never wander alone, because after all, we did some terrible harm there. So of course I tested my theory of existence, and did exactly that, wander alone at night. From Odawara, to Tokyo. I never had a problem. In Hiroshima, I took their advice, as the Yakusa ruled at the time.
I never heard a rude word. I was never challenged or threatened. I was greeted and treated well. The Japanese are a proud people, and I honored that pride. I could not presume to apologize for what had happened before, but I think I was a good ambassador to those I met.
These are some of my experiences,
For those that fear what is different, and refuse to look at the other side of an argument? Had I chose that path, I would never have gained such fond memories.
Thanks for slogging through this rant.
Millrat