by Joan G. December 07, 2007
Once I recall visiting an African safari with a few classmates and tour guide in South Africa.
Our minds ran free and we sat patiently watching and waiting for various species to show up on the scene for us to snap and reel photo imagery.
Personally, I learned from the experience that there are basically 3 different types of people:
1) "People People"
2) "Place People"
3) "Thing People"
"Thing people" can visit a new place and walk away with a collection of lovely artifacts and souvenirs that can fill a trunk. They cherish museums and exhibits and are naturals for hopping on tour routes. They take tons of photos and several video tapes of breathtaking footage. They carry a book with them to explain all that they are seeing, smelling, tasting and hearing on adventures. They love nature and bringing it closer to humanity. They can rattle of landmarks, recognize silhouettes and skylines of almost every place on earth.
"Place people" like to visit multiple places and are never afraid to walk a mile to get somewhere. They can drive for miles and miles never seeing a single exotic animal but would say the entire safari was worthwhile for that one single giraffe in the middle of the road. They can rattle off the names of all types of restaurants that serve the tastiest delicacies!
Some "People people" like me could care less and would rather talk to other people and risk disturbing the animals. We look for ways to meet new people, head to a new party or nightclub or figure out why people annoy us in certain settings. So my friend and I began to discourse about life and our social philosophy back in the U.S. We came to a realization that some colloquial expressions that our children grow up using are really detrimental.
After hours of debate and discussion, we agreed on one expression. Our #1 culprit was ""It's AAALLL GOOOD!" ! We laughed hysterically at how that one expression can cause an entire culture to lay back, relax and settle for whatever lands in the middle of life's road. As we stopped for lunch on the top of a picturesque mountainside over looking a beautiful river (I know that a "Place person" could surely tell you the exact name), we did various skits for fun. "Ma! I failed my class, but It's AAALLL GOOOD, because I am in summer school!" or "Dad, I wrecked my car, but It's AAALLL GOOOD because I already paid my insurance premium for the month".
The expression minimizes the problem and offers too quick of a discount to addressing the causes or effects of the problem. It just makes life a simple shrug. Now we didn't come to this conclusion because we were two students bored on a once in a lifetime safari. We just came to the conclusion because we had time and space to just observe raw nature and think for a change.
You are what you think sometimes in life. Using the expression, "It's AAALLL GOOOD" too often... just makes you feel good and just NOT think at all. If and when I go back to visit Africa I might skip the safari and meet some more beautiful people!
Posted By: Joan E. Gosier HBCUkidz.com
Friday, December 7th 2007 at 1:58PM
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