Last Friday…
Last Friday I was doing some research for my next article (it feels so good either writing or telling this phrase) when suddenly a message appeared in my LinkedIn account.
It had been sent by a Pakistani process automation engineer that was working installing some electrical equipment in an industrial plant located somewhere in the south of China.
In the message, this engineer was asking me if the installation’s explosion protection system was correctly mounted.
After a few seconds of disbelief, I asked him how he had contacted me. He told me that he had read an old technical article on LinkedIn that I had written and published in December 2015 (here goes the link https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fiber-optics-always-safe-hazardous-areas-nope-mirko-torrez-contreras), and that he had some doubts in reference to this application.
I asked him if he had contacted the equipment’s manufacturer and he said that they would give him an answer over the next few days…
This was not acceptable for him since he was returning to Pakistan this weekend.
So, we arranged to have an MS Teams meeting and then we analyzed the equipment’s characteristics, how it had been installed and made a risk analysis of a worst-case scenario. Afterwards, we reached the conclusion that the installation was ok.
Finally, I asked him if he was Muslim, and he said yes.
I had read somewhere sometime that the educated way to say goodbye for Muslims is to use the phrase “As-salamu alaykum”, which means “Peace be upon you”. He briefly explained to me how to pronounce it correctly and thanked me for the help.
And this weekend I started to think about all the factors that made that conversation possible, such as the Internet, the use of live conferencing software, the access to an almost infinite amount of data without leaving our desks, and as it is in my case our homes, really mean that we live in a notable age.
For a moment, any differences of origin, belief, political orientation, or cultural prejudice were eliminated using the stuff we employ daily to exchange our life experiences.
And I could not think of a better way to show my amazement at what had happened than to use the following emoji: 😮.
Well, that’s it, a little event that was an example of what we humans can do with just a little bit of open-mindedness.