07.26.08
We are One
One way to teach yourself to not take things so personally it to realize that we are all the same. We humans are much more alike than we are different. We don’t know someone’s motives for saying or doing a certain thing. But we attach what we think are their motives, to their behavior. We in essence create our own misery and pain (did Dante write this before? Or someone else?) when we think we are either better or worse than other people We are all the same.
I realized this when I entered the world of the cell phone. Previously I had been a pay-as-you-go phone user. The half-price clearance rack of technology. That type of phone is tremendously useful for emergencies. My problem was that friends would call me to tell me urgent things like, “Trina did you hear about the girl in India who was born with 5 arms and 5 legs?” And I got tired of telling people, “You are wasting 30 units just to tell me this stuff.”
I had always been annoyed at those people who carry their cell phones everywhere. They take them out and talk. They take them out to check and see if someone wanted to talk to them while they had the ringer off. They don’t turn the ringer off. Their phones ring during meetings. They are self-righteous, completely oblivious human beings who are so self-centered that they don’t even realize–or care–that they are talking so loudly that everyone else can hear their ‘private’ conversations. They are spoiled, rich Americans who are uncaring in the amount of radiation they are putting into their heads with each phone call.
Then an interesting thing happened. I became one of those people. I didn’t aspire to this role. I didn’t even realize it was happening until yesterday when my phone rang. During a meeting. And this time it was I who said, “Is that me, or is that you?” A sentence that for me capitalized on the selfishness of these cell phone owners/users! Yet I couldn’t stop myself from asking it, because it was what was needed. I had to say that in order to dive onto my phone to stop the sound (I haven’t figured out how to turn it off yet, so I just throw myself onto it so I will be more inconspicuous).
Now I am the person who calls everyone. I check my phone several times a day to see if I missed anyone’s call. Other people (the pay-as-you-go users) will tell me, “You are wasting my units. And besides, there is a lightning storm going on right now.” To which I reply, ‘Oh, that’s OK, I don’t mind. Let’s talk about ‘us’.”
No matter how annoying someone in your life is, no matter how caustic their behavior or words are, just remember–we are ALL capable of that bad behavior. And no matter how saintly or giving someone is, we are also all capable of that type of behavior. So let’s not take anything seriously. Think about the opposite, and have a good laugh.
And, Call me!
