I am back in Accra, Ghana for (what is now) my semi-annual trip working on Theodora Project and Rotary Club to End Human Trafficking Economic Development Initiative (EDI for short). The two projects are at very different points of their development.
Theodora has gone beyond the stark, 'new concept, can it even work?' phase to the 'we've proven the concept, we have a working business, can we create meaningful succession and scaling.' That's pretty cool for sure as I've detailed in December.
EDI on the other hand is absolutely in the 'can it even work?' phase. And if I am to be blunt and truthful, I'm not sure it is. This isn't because I think the concept is bad, unworkable, or have the potential to make it. The problem is I don't have the time and the energy to make the start-up work.
I was fortunate that the fate that put me into the Theodora situation, coincided with me still having enough time and energy to do the intense work necessary to get it over the challenges to success. Now, six years later being in my late 70's rather than my early 70's, I don't have that energy and my time is running .
Anyway, I'm not sure why I started writing on this. I will come back to it in a subsequent post. What I wanted to write about was my actual flight experience to Ghana which brought up to me just how we lose perspective in the world.
I was able to get a really good fare on this flight but it meant having overnight layovers in each direction. That makes for a long travel time. Plus, leaving the airport to get a hotel (I still saved well over $1k doing things this way) and having to go through whole airport security thing over again.
So this particular set of flights had a whole litany of annoying/irritating things. To note:
- Delta Airlines not seeming to be able to get its computer system to remember when your documents have been checked leading to you have to recheck them numerous times.
- Delta's app completely freezing when you go to a place requiring a special visa, meaning it is not available to track your flight details or other information.
- Running into one of the most anal TSA agents I've experienced in ages in Atlanta that made me (and others) do things in the TSA Pre-Check line require me (and others) to go back and forth between the screening gate and the line you put your belongings on multiple times, screwing up the process for everyone as a result.
- Getting Business Class seat that was incredibly hard causing all kinds of problems with my arthritic shoulders and hips.
The first three of these were all before I got on the long-haul business class flight and I was in a pretty crappy state-of-mind when I boarded my flight from Atlanta to NYC. The flight attendants on boarding asked how I was doing, and I kind of vented. And at that very moment, images of Los Angeles, Gaza, Syria, Sudan jumped into my head. And I immediately made note of that observation to the same crew members I had just bitched to.
I won't say I immediately moved into a state of bliss. I was still annoyed. But I took my whole attitude with a distinct grain of salt.
2 comments:
Sorry to hear it about the rough start to the trip. It's great when we can put things into perspective, but I get that pain points can still be annoying. I hope you are resting comfortably somewhere now!
It is possible to appreciate your good luck and first world problems AND still find them annoying! I am really interesting to learn more about your ponderings re: EDI. I am in a different phase in my life but one of the key learnings from my recent reflections on my startup experiences is the massive time and energy suck they require.
In the past I didn't question it, but now I truly do. No matter how noble or exciting the cause or personal thrill (or ego lift for me) it may bring, I feel the cost to your total life, energy, creativity and ability to enjoy your friends, family, loved ones and local community should be much more heavily scrutinized.
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