Re: The asterisk

On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 10:52 PM, Donna Scanlon <scanlon.donna@gmail.com> wrote:
> I dunno, we're all tourists on this beautiful blue-green planet, and
> at some point in our lives, all of us have been tourists in the
> literal sense, too.
>
> Why does everything have to be mean, snide and snarky? We have tons of
> tourists here in Lancaster County, and a lot passed through the
> library. They all had stories, because they were all human beings. In
> addition, they were feeding our economy in part. And if I see them on
> the street, instead of calling them names in my head, I stop and ask
> if I can help--and sometimes, I learn something.

When I worked in the big city, I would walk to and from the train
through downtown Salem. I would always carry free tourist maps, so
that when someone asked directions, I could not only tell them, I'd
circle their current location, their destination, and draw a best
route. And then I'd give them the map.

The way I see it, we get tourists and visitors. Visitors understand
that they are guests in this town. They want to be here, not just
somewhere with gift shops. If things are done differently than at
home, well, when in Rome. Visitors are awesome. They are welcome any
day of the week. When I travel, I try to be a visitor. If I'm
travelling, I want to be somewhere else. I don't want to be at home,
but with different scenery.

Tourists on the other hand, don't realize (or don't care), that people
live and work here; they don't understand that they are not in an
amusement park where the world is designed to revolve around them.
Some tourists arrive in big buses, others drive, and some, it seems,
have lived here their entire lives.

I do think, however, that I'm going to start telling visitors the
truth. Not only were no witches burned here, but none were hanged,
either.

Rick "Twoflower" Le Mon
--
Rick Le Mon
straif@gmail.com
Os byddi di'n edrych yn ofalus, mae pob creigiau'n hardd.