A Lesson in People

In a week on November 12th, it will be 3 months that I have been traveling. I have met many hundreds of people from different walks of life. Different races, religions, ages, political preferences, sexual orientation, abilities, different financial backgrounds, blue collar, white collar, etc.

So far this journey has definitely been an enlightening lesson in people, kindness, respect & human nature.

Each person here is just trying to enjoy life in their own way. For example, I was recently annoyed with a camping neighbor that had me up twice well after midnight because they chose to be loud, drink & party outside. I could have reported them cuz quiet time begins at 11pm, but, I didn’t. Even though they were terribly rude, I realized that they were on ‘vacation’ & just wanted to relax & have fun. They weren’t obnoxious or a threat to me, Sadie or my property, they were just being disrespectful to their neighbors & the quiet time rules.

Disney’s claim to fame is that it’s the happiest place on Earth. To me it is, to others, not so much. It’s really all about your attitude & perspective. Some folks come here and are happy, others arrive & bring all their burdens with them. They are unhappy even on vacation. I witnessed partners arguing & children getting major timeouts. I walk Sadie 6 times a day & occasionally see the same people a few times during the walk. Some of them never smile. I sometimes wonder why they are so unhappy, even while they are at Disney.

Some folks are friendly, others not so much. For example, while walking Sadie today I said ‘Hi’ as I passed an older couple, they totally ignored me so then I said ‘Hello’. They still ignored me & kept walking. But, instead of me getting annoyed, I decided it’s ok, them not returning a greeting to me isn’t the end of the world. You just never know what’s going on in others lives.

Lots of folks bring their political preferences & beliefs with them when they travel. I guess to them it’s important to proudly display who they intend to vote for. At first, I though is that really necessary ? You’re on vacation, give it a break. But then I realized I have a choice to let it bother me or a choice to simply ignore their displays. I chose the latter.

I made a few friends along the way. It’s actually sad when a nice camping neighbor leaves. The empty campsite is hosed down & cleaned so that it looks like no one was ever there. Then I wait & wonder who will park their family in that spot.

So far I learned that most people are nice, willing to help & have good intentions. Others are more private & aren’t on vacation to make friends. And some others just aren’t nice at all, and that’s OK. Life is too short to concern myself with trying to be nice to someone who just isn’t interested.

I am happy to be at Disney for the holidays. It’s also comforting that there are familiar friendly faces here. I will continue to say hello to camping neighbors & whether or not they return the greeting, I will still smile.