…with Gary Moss

My yesterday was no different than other days in most respects. I got dressed, checked my emails, packed up my computer and headed over to Breugger’s Bagels for my morning repast and a comfortable spot to write my daily blog. When I entered, I spied a small empty table; I made a beeline for it. Usually I seat myself on the edge of the diners; this day I was more in the middle. The place was packed; it was about 8:15AM. The line of people placeing their orders was beginning to build. By 9AM the line can sometimes snake clear out the door. The constant hum from the patrons does not distract me when I’m writing, in fact it is usually comforting, except when there is a crying, shrieking baby. I stop at Bruegger’s so often that the staff knows me. When they see me enter the eatery they call out to me to comfirm that I want my ‘regular’ (sausage-egg-and cheese on an ‘everything bagel’, untoasted). By the time I cut through the crowd to the cash register, my order is waiting for me with a cup for my coffee. People who are standing in line may be a little pissed at me, but it only takes a fraction of a second. It makes me feel very special to receive this preferential treatment.

The people in line and eating at the tables always seem friendly and happy. There are couples and families. There are business meetings and tutoring. There are school groups and dog walkers. There are young and old, tall and short, men and women. But on this day I noticed that there were white and black and brown and yellow. They conversed in English and Spanish and Japanese and Hebrew and other tongues I could not discern. The room was filled with lively chatter and a lot of laughter.

I sat back in my chair and looked deeply around the room at the different groups. And then it hit me. They were all laughing in the same language. How cool is that.

Then it occurred to me that the breakdowns in the world are most like due in part to the misunderstandings in the translation of things. It’s too bad that everything was as easily understood as laughter.

Scrabble players have a genuine understanding of the vast differences among people on the planet, in relation to their languages. Scrabble players learn words from many world languages in their quest for mastery of the game.

Oh how the world be a more wonderful place if instead of wars we could simply call, “Challenge”.