One of the fun and unique things about skiing is the conversations you find yourself having with complete strangers on the lifts. We rarely strike up conversations in confined spaces like elevators, but when folks are skiing or riding they are more apt to chat, wanting to share their mountain experience, and that opens the door to all kinds of other conversations.

Which brings me to last week. I skied for the first time in eight years, with my 12-year old son serving as trusty guide. Riding the Whistler Village gondola from mid-station to the mountaintop takes a good 20 minutes and being a local, it’s always fun to engage with visitors — find out where they’re from and how they are enjoying Whistler. I struck up a chat with two 30-something American men and soon found out about their helmet-cam challenges, where they were from (South Carolina) and how the alpine temperature signs were freaking them out. Canada uses the metric system but the U.S. is still using imperial measurements so a temperature of -2 seemed awfully cold to our U.S. friends. Once they figured out their error, they laughed it off and joked about how “We Americans just can’t get it together to adopt the metric system.”

From there we proceeded to chat and laugh about the wild and crazy ride that is the U.S. Republican primaries; the challenges of religious extremists running for senior office; the fact that several U.S. government agencies told the Canadian government to scrap our newly-passed crime bill (U.S. lawmakers shared that the “imprison everyone” approach doesn’t work and has proven an expensive failure for them). We chuckled at our differences and our shared truths, but most importantly, we had an honest, friendly conversation about issues that impact both our countries. When my American gondola-mates exited at the top we wished each other a great day and one of them said, “Thanks for the chat about politics. I love talking that stuff!”.

Later in the day, I mentioned to my son how much I enjoy ski-lift chats with strangers. He replied, “I was a bit nervous about your gondola conversation, mom. You talked about all those things you’re not supposed to talk about – you know, like politics and religion.” He’s 12! Where did he get the idea about “taboo” subjects? In this time of the Internet and reality TV, can the concept of taboo subjects still exist? Does friendly conversation have to exclude politics and religion?

My answer to him was this: “If you speak your truth respectfully and with a sense of humour, it makes others feel that they can engage you in their truth as well. Being able to laugh at yourself while respecting other opinions opens the door to really great, memorable conversations.”

So next time you find yourself on a ski lift, give it a try. You may want to start with a simple “How’s your day going?” But with an open mind and an open heart, who knows where the conversation may lead — to politics, religion, skis vs. snowboards, paper vs. plastic? When you speak a kind and gentle truth that respects the truth of others, then “taboo” subjects become dynamic discussion.

~ Mo Douglas

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