Charlie Funk
When I was a kid, if it was Sunday and I had a pulse, I was going to church. Sometimes twice, once in a while on Wednesday. There was even a song that extolled "church twice on Sunday, and once in the middle of the week" that was popular in the 1950s, at least in the Bible Belt.
With my mom's encouragement, I learned that I should turn the other cheek, be slow to anger, quick to forgive and to always treat others as I would have them treat me. It turned out that not all my schoolmates subscribed to that philosophical life set.
Making fun of others for whatever reason enhanced one's image. Humbling those who were weaker or wouldn't fight back increased one's social dominance. Bullies were bullies and many (most) of them were perceived as the leaders, the ones to look up to.
It was humiliating, a psyche-crushing experience, to submit to these cretins, but if one were to be faithful to a policy of nonviolence, that was what had to be done.
My epiphany came one day when I was confronted by a classmate, Larry, who embarrassed me beyond what should be described here. My dad sensed something was wrong when he came home that night, and when he asked what was going on, I explained the entire incident.
My dad demanded that I confront Larry the next day and resolve the insult regardless of how that worked out, even if it involved physical confrontation. I did. Larry beat the snot out of me.
That one incident served to set a switch in my mind, though, that going forward I wouldn't let bullies control my life ever again.
Later, in another life, I was the sales and marketing manager for a company with responsibilities that required traveling a lot. As in over 100,000 miles a year, you're a Delta Airlines Flying Colonel a lot. In 1972, the first airline hijacking occurred, with the aircraft diverted to Havana. The hijacker left the airplane, and it returned to the U.S. with all the other passengers safe.
Several other hijackings led me to consider what my reaction would be, when, not if, I were on an airplane that was hijacked. I decided that I would fold my arms, recline my seat, close my eyes and wait until the malefactor left the airplane and we returned to the U.S.
That philosophy worked for a while. The events of 9/11 changed all that. Bullies, those who would impose their will on others for whatever reason, irreversibly changed our lives. Brave souls who realized they had nothing to lose confronted those bullies. I can't do any less going forward.
My wife, Sherrie, and I took a cruise from Paris to Normandy in October 2015. This cruise was in anticipation of a group that would do exactly the same voyage in April 2016. Less than two weeks after our return, a terrorist attack in Paris killed and maimed scores of people and disrupted the lives of thousands.
The impact was immediate, and we had cancellations totaling more than $30,000 on the Monday following the attack. Sherrie, in discussing a client's cancellation of the April cruise out of safety concerns, noted that even though the clients lived in Boston, and Boston had had a terrorist bombing attack, we wouldn't have any reservations about visiting there (insert Dave Loggins' "Please Come to Boston" lyrics here for this incurable pacifist).
And then we had Brussels. Just so no one misunderstands, four of those killed in the Brussels attack had close ties to Nashville. This is not some disjoined event for us. (The Funk's agency, Just Cruisin' Plus, is located in Brentwood, Tenn., a suburb of Nashville.)
I think the thing that was most disconcerting to me was the number of those purporting to be travel professionals who instantly dropped into near-panic mode. "Should I call my clients and see if they are afraid?" "I wouldn't go there now. Should I call my clients and tell them?"
Suppose your primary care physician had contacted you some months ago, exclaiming with noticeable anxiety, "There's an Ebola outbreak in Africa. Are you afraid?" Or how about, "Zika virus is everywhere, and I need to know if you are concerned."
Or what if your attorney called to announce that the Supreme Court had just ruled about whatever, and were you concerned?
If you're really in this business as a professional and not a part-timer, a hobbyist, someone who takes orders for travel as a way to generate incremental income just so your family can travel, it's time to start acting like it. If you aren't a professional, it's time to get out.
I never really understood all those childhood fables I heard until later in life. One we need to recall is that there's no place for Chicken Little. If you're running around screaming, "The sky is falling," you're part of the problem, not the solution. Sit down, have a nice glass of merlot and reset.
Resolve that you will learn the difference between a State Department Travel Alert and a Travel Warning. Familiarize yourself with what is going on in places your clients might want to visit. Be prepared to discuss calmly with them that they need to take their street smarts with them wherever they go. Review good travel practices concerning safe carriage of documentation, having a plan and staying alert.
Encourage them to enroll in the U.S. Department of State's Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, a free service that sees that travelers get real-time, detailed updates of country-specific warnings and alerts. Explain the value of not looking like a tourist when visiting international destinations.
Elizabeth Gilbert is the author of "Eat, Pray, Love," a book that was made into an unabashed chick flick that I confess I enjoyed. The author also has a blog that recently offered the following:
"I am not afraid of the world, but I am afraid of people who are afraid of the world. (Terrified people, after all, have a reputation for making terrible decisions.) I want to live in a society filled with people who are curious and concerned about, rather than afraid of, each other. I want to live in a world full of brave people who are willing to risk not only adventure but emotional intimacy. I want to live in a world full of explorers and generous souls rather than people who have voluntarily become prisoners of their own fortresses. I want to live in a world full of people who look into each other's faces along the path of life and ask, 'Who are you, my friend, and how can we serve each other?'
"For that to happen, we must all be travelers -- in the world, in our own communities and even in our imaginations. We must risk that journey to the other side of the island, we must keep knocking on each other's doors and we must keep letting each other in."
It's like this ...
I'm tired of letting others control my life. I'm tired of bullies affecting what I do or don't do. I have no intention of acting foolishly or capriciously, but I have decided that if I let bullies cause me to change one whit of what I would do with my life, they have won, and I never lifted a finger, never protested and went out with a whimper.
I have no intention of presenting to my clients anything other than a voice of considered, informed reason on fear or any other subject. I have a responsibility, an obligation, to my clients to help them make a better-informed decision about their travel plans.
I'm done with bullies: the Larrys, the hijackers, the terrorists. I can't or won't renounce the things I learned so many years ago, and while I might not be able to strike out physically against those who would disrupt my life, I will not let them have the satisfaction of knowing their actions caused me to change any plans I have made. I won't needlessly alarm or upset my clients.
I will be a source of rational, considered information. If you're a travel professional, I urge you to do the same.