Hospitality Lesson #5 - INSIGHT

There is always more to hospitality than the physical kindnesses extended. Most hospitality also comes with an intellectual component. It might be a simple word of encouragement. Maybe it is a new perspective on something you thought you knew so well. Other times it might be a deep insight shared at the tail end of lengthy conversation. 

Whatever form it takes, insight is an essential part of hospitality. New people and places are always a great combination that just might generate insight. 

In many ways insight is a gift that requires the least material resources. You can share a new idea with a stranger without paying for a big meal, having a guest bedroom or throwing a party. You don't even need to have your own space. Someone can share an insight on a park bench with a stranger and welcome them into their thoughts and musings. 

One small way that people along the Geneva Lake Shore Path showed hospitality through insight is the Little Free Libraries that two residents put up (If you don't know about this amazing nonprofit, look them up!). These small little houses each have two shelves full of books than anyone can take. By putting them up along the shore path, those residents are inviting walkers to stop and consider what they might learn as they take their walk. 

They are also allowing walkers to share with others and extend their own hospitality. Anyone can leave a book in a Little Free Library for others to take. In a way these small buildings become outlets for hospitality as people give and take along the path. 

"There is no hospitality like understanding." Vanna Bonta