You’ve probably watched John Quinones setting up scenes that push the boundaries of acceptable behavior and then asking, “What would you do?” Read the following scenario and decide if there is anything you would have done differently. (I confess: I was there and I wouldn’t have.)
The scene is a large employee-appreciation/development conference, held in Hawaii, for hundreds of federal employees. I was there as an instructor for one of the development sessions, to be presented the following day. The evening before the sessions started was a dinner, at which the employees were welcomed and an overview of the conference was shared. The woman responsible for the entire affair stood before us and outlined what was in store. She then said, “And now, before we have our dinner, we have a very special treat in store. Our entertainment for the evening will be native Hawaiian dancers, sharing with us this unique and magical art form.”
The applause was immediate. The music started. The lead dancer strode to the podium, took the microphone, and asked that the music be stopped. The whispers began — we were all wondering what had happened to cause this interruption in what had promised to be a most enjoyable evening, one in which we could learn about a culture so different from our own.
“What you are about to see,” she virtually snarled, “is not entertainment. This is our culture. This is our history. This is our legacy to those who will come after us. But it is not a show put on for your amusement. It is not entertainment.”
You could have heard the proverbial pin. The conference-organizt er looked as if she wanted to climb a palm tree and remain there until the entire conference was over. The lead dancer returned the microphone to its stand, waved her hand to indicate the music could now begin, and the evening went on as planned.
What would you have done if you were the organizer? Would you have taken the microphone back and publically apologized, then, and there? Would you have waited until after the “performance” and extended your regrets to the whole troupe of native dancers? Or….would you have submitted the text of your remarks to any and all concerned before you made those remarks, just to be sure you were not treading on any ethic toes?
Hindsight, of course, is always easier to use than foresight. But, it does provide us with a blueprint for future actions. I never forgot that incident. I also never made the mistake the meeting planner made, in all innocence and with total respect for the indigenous people.