I took a flight on Thursday evening and had one of those experiences you don’t forget. The boarding was the usual bustle of people and baggage, we all sat down, put our headphones on and waited for takeoff in our own little worlds. Alas, out popped the pilot to speak to us over the PA system. You know it’s never good when that happens. A minor fault, a delay, engineers coming, can’t take off, we’ll be on our way as soon as possible. The gentleman next to me shared commiserations that we wouldn’t be home in time for dinner.
And thus started one of the most amazing conversations I have ever had with a stranger. We talked food, food supply, disinformation, facebook, Trump, Russia, peace, family, life lessons, death, philosophy, books, work, regrets, love, illness, travel, and memory just to name a few. In a short few hours I laughed, I cried and I learned a lot.
A stranger no more, Charles and I connected on LinkedIn and I have thought about our conversation several times since meeting him. Charles shared with me the one article he has written in his time on LinkedIn. It has some good life lessons in it, well worth the read and some good recommendations in there for everyone.
The moral of this article? Pop your head up from your phone, tablet, laptop or computer more often and smell the roses, and see the amazing people sitting right beside you.