Osprey - 11-1-2009 at 07:21 AM
Ten Second Ambassadors
Last night, Halloween, there were about the usual number of Mexican kids at our gate and as my wife handed out most of the goodies she would come back
up on the patio and report to me their costumes and manners (or lack of them). Most were gracious and said ‘thank you’ in English or ‘Gracias’. The
costumes seemed to be more elaborate, well designed than most years – the parents did a great job of shuttling them around to the homes of mostly
gringos (we are a poor fishing village and times are tough right now).
It struck me that we see these same kids walking to and from school but last night we couldn’t see their faces. Does it matter? Not much, since we
don’t get much chance to interact with them. So Halloween night is our one chance in a year to be ten second Ambassadors --- and it is also theirs.
The smiles show through and ours as well, they read everything they are going to know about us right there and then, through an iron gate.
I think it is safe to say they think we are very strange, very rich and very clumsy about their lifestyle, their culture. The ten seconds softens that
a little and I would like to think that it really happens both ways all year long; the soldier at the military stop smiles broadly and pets your
pooch, you remember to say ‘con permiso’ when you enter someone’s living room, a smile and a nice little propina for the vender on the street.
I’m not the missionary type so I don’t want to change the world (and certainly not theirs) but we can change how we see it, how we fit in, one quick
little meeting at a time. If those little snapshots are all they have to judge us by, I say, try to make it one friendly little Kodak moment.
grace59 - 11-1-2009 at 11:57 AM
Very nice, Osprey! We all need to remember that those brief moments say alot when it comes to how we treat others. If they leave you with a smile,
that smile will be passed on to the next person that they meet. The same thing goes for when we are not nice to others...so be sure to smile, people.