After a truly inspiring flight coming to SA I have arrived and settled in a comfy bed and breakfast in Cape Town. Just to mention a few words about my flight- despite the stress of changing airplanes and navigating foreign airports, I always love flying because I meet some of the most interesting people "in the air". Between SF and Atlanta I shared a cramped space with a born and bred San Franciscan whose grandmother was one of the founders of black civil rights groups in San Francisco in the 60's. She shared one of her grandmother's philosophies with me, which was simply, "be nice to those who are nice to you." Sounds simple enough, but I realized the value of this later in the flight.
One of the many US soldiers on our flight, on route to Iraq, turned around to interrupt our blabbing and started to befriend us. Inside I felt a slight annoyance that this person, who I felt I had nothing in common with, was interrupting our conversation. He chimed in and said, "I heard you talking about the environment. Well, one of my good friends creates farming systems using only what he has on his farm." He continued to tell us about his friend's sustainable farming systems and also mentioned how he is pushing to have his friend actually go to Iraq/Afghanistan to lead seminars. I was pretty much floored. Although he looked like a typical white-boy southern US soldier, he broke so many stereotypes I have about those who serve for the US Army. Shame on me. I need to learn to be nice and appreciate those serving for us. Just as I misjudged those who would be serving for the Peace Corps, I misjudged the motives and work of some of our soldiers. I can't wait to contact this gentleman to learn more about his work abroad.
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