i had the fortunate opportunity to be laughed at recently. on a trip to a mountain village in central China, I had arrived late with my wife and managed to squeeze in a long itinerary of a cable car ride and the worlds tallest outdoor elevator in a short afternoon. it was done in quite a rush, but had us missing most of the ‘tourist sites’ that were dotted along the route. Although not the best choice, i had accomplished what i had set out to do, and was settled back in the hotel explaining our route to the two local women who were massaging our feet. after hearing about our afternoon the one woman pushing onto my wifes soles asked me if i had seen this peak or that.

She laughed out loud when I had told her I had not. the joy in her voice surprised me and she went on that i might have well not gone up in the first place. My wife kept quiet, but I beamed, egging the masseuse on to explain further what i had missed. The woman became more animated and explained that i had missed the best sites in the mountain, pulling her phone out and stopping her massage she proceeded to show me photos of peaks and craters I had missed. After the initial excitement died down, and she set her phone away, I proceeded to tell her that this is how i do most my traveling. That I go to sites around the world, get very close to the ‘thing’ and move on. In some ways this was not far from the truth. I have stood at the base of the Eiffel Tower and been scared away by the lines, it happened again in Barcelona when we visited Sagrada Familia. But what pleased me the most was her pleasure in righting my wrongs.

She was beside herself, and told me I may as well not have come. There is a joy one gets when allowing the joke to be played on oneself, as long as one is confident in their imaginary losses. I was taught by mom early on to be extremely humble and kind to those that might have the unfortunate luck of being underneath you, having less money or opportunity, and the exact opposite should be show if you come across someone that might be seen as your superior. This truth is important, but it feels even better if you can make that person, for a moment, feel you have something to learn or that they, for a moment, are in the right. It does not matter if they are or not, for each person has their own set of rules and destination in mind. This is not the point. The shame my wife felt momentarily as her masseuse laughed at her husband was for me the biggest accomplishment of my day.