One of the greatest things of travel is the unexpected moments in places you never imagined.  On my final night in Zurich I had dinner at a restaurant near the hotel.  ‘Table for 1’ as always once I ordered the beer, always, started flowing.  About halfway into my dinner a table was celebrating a birthday and as we have all experienced that moment when the entire waitstaff sing to you and in most cases every table near you.  I was expecting to hear the the traditional Swiss version of happy birthday but I would’ve bet you money there was no way the waitstaff would sing Stevie Wonder’s version, (he wrote this song dedicated to Martin Luther King when his birthday became a national holiday).  ‘Wow, I never thought I would’ve heard this in Zurich’ I said aloud and the man sitting next to me responds ‘heard what?’  And I explained him the importance of the song, whom it’s dedicated too and its message.  

His name was Christoph and he was having dinner with his girlfriend Eve.  He was a youth counselor and he was currently teaching his students about the Civil Rights movement in the US and MLK’s role in it.  Once again I could’ve been seated next to anyone in the restaurant and on this night no one could’ve been celebrating, fate is such a powerful force and we will forever be defenseless when it strikes.  Within minutes our tables were connected and a stranger was making two new friends.  My final night in Zurich having dinner with two people I just met talking about segregation, inequality faced by African-Americans, MLK and the civil rights movement in the US all because someone was celebrating a birthday,  you can’t script this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9bn1s34Zc4