Karen and I ended our Mediterranean trip with a marvelous lunch at Za-Z, a restaurant in Florence. Waitresses, busboys and owners hustled and shouted with Florentine flair. They served a tasty sampler of bean, bread, and vegetable soups, graced with Italian bread, olive oil and a glass of Tuscan Chianti.

As a business educator I like to thinking about systems that help people serve, or be served, well.

The Tuscan agricultural system provided fruits and vegetables for those culinary artists. Economic systems provided paying customers. Political systems harmonized all their services.

That night I learned failed diplomacy led to the Russian-Georgia warfare in South Ossetia. People and systems that served those people were destroyed. I was disappointed to learn United States mistakes played a part in that conflict. I had an impulse to stay in Florence and ignore the world.

But I stuffed that impulse when I remembered how many times Mediterranean communities have recovered from system failures.  In 1945 Nazis destroyed all but one bridge over Florence’s Arno River. We walked over new bridges identical to the original ones.

We saw pockmarks from shrapnel during the 1991-92 civil war in historic Dubrovnik Croatia. Our guide took shelter from bombs. “You get through it,” she shrugged.

We visited Olympia where Greece halted warfare so male athletes could compete. But ceasefires only lasted a few weeks every four years.

The cruise tour director worried about the Russia-Georgia warfare. We had a large group of Russians on board. At a stage show, he reminded us cruise ships bring people together. “It is all about love.”

Skilled service helped us more than love. Staff served us well and we saw them use diplomatic skills with difficult customers.

The war in South Ossetia seemed avoidable. Georgians are persecuting South Ossetians, who want to be independent or Russian. Georgia moved troops first. Our diplomacy led Georgians to believe we would send troops. Putin admitted punishing Georgia by attacking. Italy sides with Russia. 

Five of 11 former Soviet Block countries think Georgia’s diplomacy taunted Russia. NATO members now express doubts about admitting a reckless Georgia they would have to defend.

McCain reacted by emotionally supporting Georgia, “Today, we are all Georgians.”

I am not Georgian, but I want to be proud of the way our country supports Georgia’s, or any countries’, restaurant workers and customers. I had an impulse to stay in Florence and not worry about our diplomatic policies.

I overcame that impulse. If  Florentines can serve their community well even with all they have suffered, I could return to serve the best way I know. One way is letting people know we serve people best when we first use  knowledgeable, skillful and artful diplomacy.