“I don’t see that.”

Tonight I went for dinner with one of my favourite colleagues – the famous, Mr. Peter! He reminds me so much of my Grandpa Hoit – small, curious, and full of generosity! (Family, I swear he is a clone!). I go to Mr. Peter for all of my troubles – student troubles, parent troubles, LIFE troubles…….he is the greatest! In addition to these fabulous qualities, Mr. Peter is especially fun to say hi to because he returns my song-like “HEY, MR. PETER!!!!!!!” with a song-like “HEY, MISS LINDSAY!!!!!!”. As I said, he is the best!

To expedite the telling of this story, I will skip the dinner part (mmmmmm far eastern chicken stir-fry and caramel cheesecake) and get to the “India slideshow” part of the evening. Before coming to Egypt, Mr. Peter taught at a school in India. Hilariously, I always thought, “UPGRADE!” with the stereotypical vision of India in my mind – dirty, crowded, polluted, poor, crazy, etc. (I know some of you are laughing, because I have used these same words to describe Egypt….but I always pictured India on an entirely different level of “AHHHHHHHHH”). Anyways, it turns out that coming to Egypt was a “downgrade” for Mr. Peter. He has an unmistakable passion for India, shown in the way he shares stories and photos of his India adventures (imagine a cute, little man, trying not to fall off the edge of his seat in excitement). As we went through the pictures on his computer, my stereotypical depiction of India seemed correct – I saw dirt, I saw garbage, I saw begging children, I saw burning bodies, I saw streets crowded with every form of transportation and every type of life………..it was not appealing. At all. And then Mr. Peter said this:

“I don’t see that. I see the people. I see the children. I see a country full of culture. I see people dedicated to tradition. I see acceptance of religion. I hear the music. I feel apart.”

I learned a great lesson on my dinner date with Mr. Peter tonight. I hope you too were able to find a lesson of your own in this story :)

Tonight I go to sleep as a less-judgemental, more understanding, and (I hope) BETTER person.

Sweet dreams!

p.s. Ummmmmm………Dad…….my next trip may be to India………….LOVE YA!