Perspective

I had a moment of realization this morning. Every day, I go into work with talented and intelligent designers who have a solid education and an extent of understanding of world events, right? Yet I had to teach them a lot about Armenia, including where it is on the map. This morning, I parked my car in the garage across the street and passed by one of the parking managers. He has a bit of an accent (I think he’s Morrocan), and the guys in my office often have a laugh or two about him and the others who park our cars once in a while... just joking around.

This morning as I walked by and said good morning, he asked why I was leaving and where I’m going (since I quit my job and only have a few days left) to which I replied that I will be going to Armenia. His immediate response was “How are things with
Azerbaijan these days? Is the war over?” I asked him how he knew about that and he said he knows a lot about us and how strong we are for resisting all the hardships we have faced throughout history. Sometimes it just takes a comment, a glance, a statement, even silence to expose truths in this world. I don’t blame my co-workers for not knowing as much as this parking guy. It’s just very telling of how we are products of our environments. Sometimes we assume that higher education means better educated. Somtimes we can never assume.