New Gaze - New World

The long trip.

Two years earlier in a small town in Wallonia, near Liege in Belgium, each employee of this small WesMart® factory was offered a new badge which had the particularity of displaying a small flower they called "Fleur De Vie".The Fleur De Vie® could unfold up to 6 petals. The number of petals actually unfurled indicated something that no one knew how to describe but that everyone felt intuitively.At first, the unions tried to dissuade employees from accepting the badge on the grounds that it was a new incursion into their private lives. But curiosity was the strongest, and the vast majority of employees exchanged their old badge for this new curiosity.Soon, everyone tested their badge with their family or friends and realised that young children often had five petals, that four petals were characteristic of people known for their wisdom, and that depressed, stressed people had only one petal.Since then, a Flower of Life totem pole has stood at the entrance to the factory, indicating the average petals of each person's badge.On that June morning, Louis Willems took up his post as foreman, as he had done every morning for over 10 years.As with everyone else, it had become a reflex for him to make sure that the number of petals on the totem pole was at the right level as soon as he arrived. That is to say that it was improving or at least not deteriorating. That morning, it read 2.74. It had come a long way from the 1.03 of the first day. Louis had been very unsettled at first. While he had always been given performance and profitability objectives, from one day to the next his main objective was to increase the number of petals on a flower...His experience, his knowledge, his certainties... everything had to be reviewed. From now on, he had to take the human into account. After the inevitable doubts and questions of the first few days, he had embarked on this path, he had groped, made many mistakes, exchanged with his colleagues and little by little, the number of his petals had gone from one to three.Louis could already see how far he had come; like his colleagues, he was visibly enjoying his work more, and curiously his performance and that of his team had also improved.So that morning, when he was offered the chance to take part in a training course to grow new petals, he didn't think too long and applied immediately. A few days later, he received confirmation of his application with the following course content:"Your three-week training course will be conducted in French. The objective of this training is to provide you with the tools and postures that will facilitate the blossoming of your petals and those of your entourage.The starting date of your training will be communicated to you 24 hours before the departure. The location will be communicated to you at the airport on the day of your departure.Your single piece of luggage will not exceed 15 kilograms and will contain exactly the following list of items...This was followed by a list of about fifty items of clothing, some of which, such as a sleeping bag designed for sub-zero temperatures, could be surprising.That day, Louis had almost given up, having imagined an academic training course in a place close to his home with colleagues he knew well. Obviously, it was nothing of the sort.After taking advice from his wife and two daughters, who thought it was "great", he finally decided to continue his application.The summer had passed. It was September 2 and Louis had almost forgotten about it when his phone rang.It was the training manager asking him to come to her office to pick up the tickets for the train that would leave for Brussels airport the next day. He would have to be at the Brussels Airlines counter before 11am.Louis was a bit panicked, his bag was not ready, did he have the fifty items on the list?He took the afternoon off to tie up loose ends and make final purchases, what was he going to do with a ski mask in the summer and how would he look in a pair of Croc's.The next morning, he gave his wife and two daughters a long, bright-eyed kiss on the platform of the Liège train station before the train that was taking him to the unknown set off.On arrival at Brussels airport, as planned, Louis went to the Brussels Airlines counter where he was given a single ticket to Djerba in Tunisia, departing at 2pm.Louis Willems finally knew his destination, but many mysteries remained.Louis had used the three hours before his departure to gather information about Djerba, his thoughts trying to associate this destination with the list of fifty items that now had to be in the hold of the plane.He quickly realised that each new piece of information raised more questions than it answered, so he finally gave up and went to sit on the terrace of a brasserie to eat while watching the flow of travellers.He realised how sweet it was to observe these comings and goings, to know neither the origin nor the destination, simply to observe.It was almost 5pm when the plane finally landed at Djerba airport.After the endless queues for passport control and the collection of his only luggage, Louis finally reached the arrivals area. There, he thought, the mystery would be cleared up. He would finally meet the other participants, understand what was waiting for them.But to his great disappointment, a taxi driver with a "Louis Willems" sign was waiting for him. His only instructions were to take him to the Dar El Manara hotel located a few kilometres away.A little disappointed, Louis took possession of his room overlooking the sea. The evening was already well advanced, so he had dinner at the hotel and then phoned home.It was not until around 9pm that the reception informed Louis that he should be ready to leave the next day at 5am in the hotel lobby.