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I’ve just recently discovered a new show that I love. It premiered on November 29th on The Travel Channel, and I haven’t missed an episode. It’s called Meet The Natives, and it’s probably NOT what you think.

The basic premise is that five members of a tribe indigenous to the tiny South Pacific island of Tanna journey to the USA to meet the natives of America and share their wisdom and kindness.

There’s not much more to it than that. As they journey across the US, staying in the homes of host families in six cities. Their experiences are drastically different in each of the cities they visit and the homes in which they stay, but their simple wisdom is the same. They are open to any experience the host family shares with them, from a say at the spa in Orange County, California (where they learned about grooming, shaving, and waxing as well as mud baths) to the towering sky-scrapers of New York City, where they had difficulty locating the sun over the tops of the buildings (very disconcerting for them).

What compels me to watch week after week is that these five men have no judgement about how these different families live. In fact, as their host family in Peoria, Illinois put it, after seeing the simple joy that their visitors took in just being together, the family was somewhat embarrassed about parts of their lifestyle and the things they do to fill their lives rather than just take joy in each other.

One of the other things I really love about these men is that in addition to their chief, translator, and medicine man, they brought their head dancer who is always ready to sing or dance (and get everyone involved with him) and their “Happy Man” whose only job on the island is to generate love and happiness. In fact, he said before leaving for America, “I will make them happy! It’s great!” And the truth is, he does just that with every family he meets. What a concept! How many of us would be better off having a Happy Man or Woman in our life?

In fact, I was surprised at how just about every one of the host families had bonded with these men so deeply over just a few short days. Most of the host families were in tears as the men left, having been touched so deeply by these wonderful teachers from a tiny island thousands of miles away and completely foreign to them that their emotions simply overflowed.

And I’ve been touched by justy watching them. These men are truly teachers of joy, happiness, and simplicity. Their only purpose is to share a message of peace and harmony with the Americans, and the do so in a gentle and unassuming fashion, never even thinking that their way may be “better” or that our own ways are “wrong”.

It’s a wonderful show, and it’s not real often I find a show that reminds me of the difference I make and inspires me to be the open compassionate man that I am.

Check it out, let me know what your thoughts are.