Vacation Dialogue: Being Clear in Trier

I find that traveling to other towns, cities, states, and countries invites opportunities to clear up misconceptions I have about the culture and history of people in these areas.  Instead of navigating through life with ideas that blind me from the surrounding reality, I slowly am able to glimpse what lies ahead and between us.

Rain-obscured Normandy Bridge (LeHavre, France)

Allowing myself to hear another person's story, opens a window which empowers me to see and experience Other.  I may still have pockets of misunderstood meanings or blind spots where my vision is limited, but a willingness to listen can renew the hope to connect and see.  In the attempt to listen, to question, and to seek understanding, my colored lenses and blind spots slowly disappear.

Multi-colored Outlook (Damme, Belgium)

A recent experience in Trier, Germany, provided a gateway for my tour group to understand the life of a multi-generational vintner.  He met us at the courtyard of his winery-home, warmly welcoming us with wine, a tour of his winemaking operation, and a BBQ.  The evening provided an atmosphere of comfort and connection.

As with many seemingly perfect situations in life, a few peculiarities began to emerge.  The vintner reminded me of a character in the Monty Python series: at one instance, he was talking normally, followed soon after with a form of excited yelling!  This anomaly may have been due to nerves or a physical ailment, but it was more endearing than off-putting.  Many responded well: joining in; laughing; and offering toasts for health, good food, thank you's, and safe travels. Until the next foible: comments were made about the current U.S. political primaries and which candidate would be better for the world economy.  For those who heard the remarks and saw the impact, it seemed the camaraderie of our tour group disintegrated, people looking narrowly through one political spectrum or another.  And still later in the evening, comments were shared that the vintner may have had too much to drink earlier in the day!

What started as an experience of welcome into another culture and a different way of being present in this world, morphed into a more confined definition of what life and career excitement should look like.  Each of us seemed to interpret and categorize the events into selective ways of understanding:  instead of accepting the vintner and his life the way it is, we left with experiences remembered through the lenses of our well-defined lives.

Restricted Alley (Honfleur, France)

On the coach ride from Trier back to Luxembourg City, I found myself wondering how I would remember this vintner: As a warm, welcoming host proud of his seven generations of wine production?  As a person enjoying his work and what he has to pass on to his two sons and guests?  As a person searching for a way to make the most of his life?  Or, as a person who enjoys too much of his product and is defined as a drunk with no value?

The Joy of Life: Freedom (Hamilton, Bermuda)

Lessons I am pondering:

• I feel interconnected with you when the windows and doors of my experiences open so that you can see through and into my life.
• I find it interesting that once I begin to open up and feel vulnerable, there also seems to be a tension within to protect and close down.
• I wonder if there is a delicate balance between opening the doors and windows of our lives to see and experience life differently versus closing down in order to remain safe in our own defined and ordered world.

In other words, is there a way to prop our doors and windows open a little longer so that it becomes more natural to be interconnected and understood?  Can we sit alongside one another - maybe outdoors - and experience the world together?

Sitting Still and Listening (outside Brugge, Belgium)

This week as we move through the celebrations of independence and freedom, let us focus on ways that we may listen (inwardly and outwardly) with more understanding (less of me and more of you) to all of the people we meet (current friends and colleagues, as well as those who will become our new acquaintances).

May the joy of life (joie de vie) be revealed in how we move through this week!

Larry Gardepie