Recently, I had taken a trip to the state of Connecticut.
My mother called me in the summer and asked me if I could take her back east to see her brother and sisters. She had not seen them in six years.
I was honored to be her traveling partner and made flight, rental car and hotel accommodations. It has been 26 years since I had been to my hometown. Though excited, I was a little apprehensive about driving around just 50 miles outside of New York City.
We flew into Bradley International Airport, picked up the rental car and started driving down I-91 to Milford, Connecticut. It did not take my mother and I long to notice it and actually it took us by surprise. We were expecting an incredible hustle and bustle, angry drivers cutting people off and unfriendly people who do not like tourists. Well, that is the stereotype, isn’t it? What we found was absolutely refreshing; Hospitality!
People we didn’t even know were happy to see us. Complete strangers would talk to us, hold the door open. The hotel staff was friendly and actually took incredible pride in their work. Restaurants were spotless.
Food was delicious and consistently delicious. One restaurant we visited twice and the restaurant was always packed no matter the time of day or night. When we sat down, the server remembered us from three days earlier and even remembered what we drank. She asked my mom if she would like to have her hot tea with milk and two sugars. I was absolutely impressed.
My mother and I met my father’s cousin Albert in an eating establishment that was very much for younger people. When I was growing up, we would go to this old building right on the beautiful Long Island Sound and eat seafood. It had been open since the 40s and had recently closed down. We were now sitting in this beautifully renovated building, eating off of an international menu. You could get pulled pork or a lobster roll. You could get kale salad or crab cakes. The crab cakes were served with sriracha, curry and a garlic ranch sauce. It was a new twist on a dish that is indigenous to that area of the country.
Again, we found incredible hospitality and service. So, I mentioned it to cousin Albert. “I can’t believe how hospitable and friendly everyone has been since the time we had arrived.” He smiled and said, “It’s the Hospitality Initiative.”
The Hospitality Initiative? Albert explained to me that a few years back, those in the restaurant, lodging and entertainment businesses had done some extensive market research.
If the Long Island Sound Coastal towns in Connecticut, so close to New York, were going to out-compete the big city, they had to out-perform them in two areas.
First area: Hospitality. He said their employees had to believe in their brand and be downright friendly. People will not continue to travel to places they do not feel welcome at.
The second area: Cleanliness. The places we visited were spotless. Albert said local colleges and schools started hospitality campaigns. I drove by the elementary school I went to when I was growing up and they had a big banner out front. “Being Kind Changes everything.”
The Long Island Sound coast has seen a dramatic increase in revenue from tourism. Which has also increased the pay of employees in the hospitality trades.
What a concept! Instead of disliking tourists who drive a huge part of their economy, they have decided to embrace them and make them feel welcome.
What a great model for us who live here in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways.
People may come to our cities and towns initially because of our rivers, parks and lakes.
What determines if they return is based on how they are welcomed and treated while they are there.
At the very center of this is a Christian principle that we know as the “Golden Rule.”
Matthew 7:9-12; “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
We tend to focus on the part that Heavenly Father gives good gifts. However, here is what we must understand, Heavenly Father gives us good gifts when we ask and he gives those gifts even though we sin, even though we fall short.
People fall short, people sometimes do not have the best attitudes or motives and neither do we. So in everything, because God gives good gifts, even though we are not perfect and sometimes evil, but because we ask, Our Father in Heaven answers.
So in everything we do we must treat others the way we want to be treated. I have heard it said we can catch more flies with honey then we can with vinegar. Living in joy and dispensing grace will always bring us an increase.
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Dave Truncone is the pastor of First Assembly of God Church in Van Buren. He and his wife, Heidi, have been married 26 years. They have two daughters, Hannah, 20, and Abigail, 16. They have lived in Van Buren for nine years.
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Editor’s Note: This is a regular series featuring area religious leaders writing about faith, family and community. To participate or suggest a church, contact us at news@darnews.com or 573-785-1414.