Serendipity

We are hiding from the rain at one of the cozy Italian places in downtown Stuttgart. It’s Friday night and the streets are full of people. They are drinking beer, having fun, and seem to not care at all about the pouring rain (Germany endured record-breaking heat this past week so everyone is relieved to finally get some cool air). We are drinking wine and talking about people in Europe being able to balance their busy lives with quality time with their friends and family much better than people in the US. We are engulfed in the conversation and barely notice what is going on around us.

Suddenly, a sweet elderly couple walks in and sits at the table next to us. They greet us in a friendly manner and ask us where we are from. We tell them about our program and they get excited to learn that we are international students studying global leadership. The husband tells us that he is from Great Britain but lived in the US for six months and grew to love our country. His wife is from Germany and they go back a forth quite a lot. They tell us about their kids living all over the globe and it makes me think about how truly international we have become.

After 15 minutes of very fluid and easy conversation, I finally feel comfortable enough to ask about “the immigrant crisis”. I am excited about the opportunity to hear the perspective straight from the horse’s mouth. I realize that this a sensitive subject and try to be as politically correct as possible not to hurt anyone’s feelings. The couple, however, is willing to share their outlook on the situation as it seems to be close to home for them. The wife tells us that she used to teach German to the first wave of migrants that came to Germany back in 2016. She talks about this time as one of the greatest experiences of her life. She shares how smart, determined, and warm-hearted her student were despite of all the pain and misfortune they had endured. She talks about all of the wonderful friendships that were made and the holidays celebrated together. Her and her husband both get emotional while talking about the very first Christmas celebration they arranged and how their migrant friends, many of whom were Muslims, fully embraced and enjoyed this tradition. I feel tears starting to well up in my eyes while listening to them. This effort was not sponsored or regulated by the German government, just people helping other people. What a beautiful thing!

The couple also shares their concern with the recent laws being passed and how it may negatively affect the migrant population of Europe and Germany in particular. One of their daughters-in-law is from Thailand and she has experienced these things first hand. We are compassionate about the situation as these are the issues that we face back home. The four of us raise our glasses to world’s piece. A German native, a British immigrant, and two American students, one is a Russian descent sitting together at an Italian restaurant…we are all different but, at the same time, we are all the same.