Ican’t remember the man’s name, or the year we met, but I remember the conversation we had. It was the early 2010s, at a customer seminar I conducted for my former employer, back when I worked in tech; he was a client, flown up to New England from the south. The world, we agreed over cafeteria chocolate chip cookies at lunch, while everyone else made small talk about the weather, becomes a far better place when people travel to places either far-flung or foreign, meet folks they never would have otherwise, and connect with their cultures and lifestyles. Satisfied with this accord, we shook hands, went back to the classroom, and recommenced corporate droning.

For the last decade and a half, I have wracked my brain to find the perfect turn of phrase for describing that brief interaction whi

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