Picture this:
"Five year old Angelo wakes up and discovers that his puppy has just chewed up one of his toys. The lil' guy has a fit of grief. Mum's nerves tighten. She snaps at husband Tony as he leaves for the office.
Still feeling the unhappy send-off, Tony greets his secretary with some cold and unreasonable instructions. She picks up the mood, and at coffee-break tells off a fellow secretary. At closing time the second secretary tells her boss she is ready to quit.
An hour an a half later, after fighting heavy traffic, the boss walks into his house and blurt out an angry word to his little son, Nelson, who had left is bike in the driveway. Nelson runs into his room, slams the door and kicks his scottish terrier. "
where does it all end? A person may think he or she had the reason to be upset, but their reaction gave rise to others being upset. What was needed in the imaginary situation was one person who would absorb unjust treatment without lashing out.
Just one.
What we do impacts others, more than we think. A ripple effect. Just imagine if in the above situation if Tony had decided to be understanding and walked into office being a cool, calm boss the chain events would have been broken. Of course at this point i can imagine some ppl saying ' yeah, but so much other things could piss him off as well, triggering more events' . Exactly the same is said if he were to have been steady, totally unaffected by surrounding events. How much more nasty incidents could have been avoided? Those few who are capable of doing this, help make better days, not just for themselves but those who surround them as well.
Well, im sure some people would just decide, " oh, stuff like this is going to happen anyway, i might as well join in and not suffer, endure the bad treatment, feel the stress from not being able to lash out". How selfish.
It was a hasty, thoughtless world, Sarcastic and unkind, That chilled the day and dimmed its light, And left a string behind.. .. In chain reactions of frustration and anger, we can be where it all ends. Be the one who breaks it. -- [Imaginary situation bit is from my daily devotion reading, Our Daily Bread by RBC Ministries] |
