Dear Editor: As we head deeper into July, it can be easy to sprain our eyeballs as we roll them at the tour buses, crowded crosswalks, the lines at the coffee shops. We joke about "the tourists" like they're one big, faceless wave that rolls in every summer and rolls back out again.
But I keep hearing about cruise ship passengers stuffing $20 tips in our kid's jars-just because. Because they are kind and have kids/grandkids back home that they love and they are extending that love to ours. That $20 didn't come from "the tourists." It came from the warmth of a human.
We, the fortunate ones, get to live in this glorious place that a lot of people save up for years to see. The experience must be overwhelming getting off the bus being bombarded with options (and whistles) and I think they are genuinely delighted to see authentic people living here with kids and friends who sell cookies and crafts, run local stores, bake and brew coffee, etc. Their questions about our lives, their compliments, their tips and photos, they're just on an adventure looking for bright spots.
I'm not saying tourism doesn't strain this town, or that every visitor is a saint. It doesn't, and they aren't. But, it's easy to lump "them" together to vent, and we lose sight of the fact that the money in our kids' tip jars, the compliments our friends get for their work, the small kindnesses exchanged across a counter – those are real people being generous to people we love. That's worth noticing and being grateful for, even while we grumble about the crazy traffic.
We are impressionable, and have impact when we talk about the people who make kind gestures (and tip jars fuller). Hopefully we aren't creating a world where we are cynical about kindness just because it showed up wearing a flimsy rain poncho.
Still learning to catch myself,
Cindy Edwards, Sitka
