QOTW 8/12/09

What's one thing you've learned from a 'life lesson'?

One.

Perhaps not 'THE' most important (thank goodness that wasn't the question!)...but one.

Be kind, be kind, be kind. You never know what a person has gone through today...or yesterday....or the day before. BE KIND.


Hard learned lesson, of course. I'm a slow learner--and arrogant as I can be, I can believe the lesson isn't about MEMEME sometimes.
I'm clear G-d multitasks in HUGE ways all the time.

This lesson came to me in stages.

Humility was a huge teacher--WPIML would have me go back to the person I'd offended and apologized. And no, it didn't matter how the OTHER person had acted....what mattered was how Mel acted.

"I'm sorry for the unkind manner in which I acted. I apologize." was acceptable. Try saying that to a waitress who forgot to come to your table to get your order, or when someone doesn't pay you back the money they borrowed.....yaknow, times when you feel 'entitled' and 'justified' in being unkind.

Didn't matter, didn't matter, didn't matter---be kind, be kind, BE KIND.

I learned to keep still--it saved me from having to go back to people who I still thought 'had it coming'.
Shutting up and saying nothing saved me from many an apology. *laughing* For me--that alone was a WONDERFUL life skill to learn.

Something happened to move the knowledge from my head into my heart.
And I got it.

A gal really, really ticked me off....and I made a passive, snide remark to her.

I was so 'cock-sure' that I was slick about it, I decided to brag about it. (dumb, dumb, dumb......)

Yup....you got it!!

Back I went to apologize to the clerk--who got weepy when she told me about having to put her dog to sleep that morning, getting in trouble with her boss for being late to work because of it--and she'd let it affect her performance in the workplace.

And she apologized...... to me.....the schmuck.......

Be kind, be kind, be kind......you never know whata person has had to go through today, yesterday or the day before. Be kind.