As the election cycle heats up we see plenty of seemingly random acts, none of them kind. Politicians saying awful things about opponents is nothing new, obviously, but when you watch, and listen, to the way they act, you can't help think this is who is going to run our country, it makes you wonder if we should revise our priorities a bit. Most of these people behave in ways that wouldn't be tolerated behind the "customer service" desk at Wal-Mart.
"I'd like to return this waffle iron."
"Oh look, he used to want this iron to make his waffles for breakfast, but now he has flip flopped (the most egregious sin) and the waffle iron is cast upon the pile of his failed breakfast policies."
"No, no, it isn't that. New information presented itself, in the form of my ever expanding waist line, and I have decided to eat more fruits, and oatmeal for breakfast."
"Oh look, everybody, he doesn't want to be overweight, he thinks he is better than the two thirds of Americans considered obese.* What does that say about his right to cash back, no, friends he gets store credit, and nothing more."
What if, for one week in February the world could stop helping each other with the meticulous dissection of individual flaws, and inconsistencies. Think of the possibilities. What if everybody could look for a way to help others feel good about themselves. Think of the things we could do together.
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| Picture provided by Master Smiler +Trina Emmerson |
For that one week we should all vow to look the other way when someone says something that doesn't match our opinions. For that one week we should all buy a coworker a cup of coffee. For seven days in February we should act like the bigger person, turn the other cheek, and smile at and talk to strangers. For a few short days we should try kindness.
It might not help, but it couldn't hurt.
"We can all sink, or we can all float,
Because we're all in the same big boat."
*According to research by the Washington University School of Medicine in Saint Louis, in a report published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
That will be easy for me:)
ReplyDeleteThis sounds good. I aim to be kind always. I guess I don't "plan" my random acts of kindness, but I will try to keep this in mind that week.
ReplyDeleteSome of what you wrote triggered a memory of a poor example for customer service. At a cookie kiosk in a mall near me, a young worker was wearing an obnoxious T-shirt that read, "Do I look like a people person to you?" I thought at the time and even now that, if I was that person's manager, I'd send him home and make him change his shirt! That's not the sort of shirt to wear when you are dealing with the public all day.