On my way back from a two week trip to glorious Indonesia, I was jet lagged, weary, and ready to come home. As I proceeded to the Air Tran ticket check in counter in Los Angeles, I saw a tall, handsome chap who kindly checked in my bags and gave me my air ticket.
The wait and queue was quite long, which made customers in line a bit irritable. It got a bit tense, but nevertheless I patiently had a brief conversation with this intellectual gentleman who was serving me. He told me he was from Iran, which immediately interested me further.
I told him that I was particularly interested in producing a documentary film on this country and traveling through it to see what life and sentiments are really like toward the western world. I care not to believe all American media propaganda, neither to be governed by fear.
My parents were greatly fearful about me going to Indonesia and acted as if I was going to die there. It was nothing of the sort as the Indonesian people greatly embraced and welcomed me. I even made friends with an entire company of army police who happily were snapping photographs with me. Veiled Muslim women in Java were doing the same at Borobudur Temple.
So you can’t believe everything you hear in the media. Fear is self-centered and never a great way to live your life. People are people everywhere, all having similar needs and desires. We all have dreams and aspirations. We all want to be recognized, respected, and loved.
Therefore I always endeavor to leave my comfort zone and truly engage people worldwide. Having traveled now to over 50 countries and 6 continents, I am continually looking for opportunities to capture culture and people as it truly is abroad.
My Iranian friend (Davood) has since emailed me often and told me his friends back home in Iran are involved in filmmaking. His father is a historian and very intelligent man about Iran. Davood has invited me to go with him to Iran and film the documentary we discussed.
I am very excited and expectant about doing this. It will be a token of peace and international dialogue for the world to watch and behold. I already have all of the video equipment to make the production. I now only need to gather some noble investors to help us with our travel expenses and finance the promotion of the documentary.
These are the occurrences that serendipity can bring to you to have meaningful relationships and live a purposeful life when you remain open. Though I was coming home jet lagged and weary to Florida, I got some fresh fire and desire for my next project at the least likely time. Indeed sweet serendipity is most sublime and can occur suddenly any time.