I commute into the city for work every day. Today, as I was trying to get into the right lane, no one would let me in. I was starting to get a bit frustrated, and then spotted what seemed to be a glimmer of hope, the car ahead of me had his indicator on to switch lanes as well! When he finally got into the lane, I thought ‘ok they let him in, I’ll go in front of him and he’ll let me in’. Boy was I wrong. This dude did absolutely everything in his power, short of getting out of his car, hitching his bumper to the bumper of the car ahead of him, to block me going in getting in.
I felt frustrated to say the least. I thought to myself “someone let him in 30 secs ago and he’s refusing to let me in, what a JERK!” Then the light bulb went on!
As humans, we’re often a lot harder on people who make the same mistakes as we do, than we are on ourselves. It’s so much easier to see what the other person has done wrong, than what we’re doing wrong. Case in point: this guy was just kindly allowed into the lane, but he was intent on not letting me in.
Last week, the Captain and I were having a chat about how we discipline the boys when issues arise. Are we too lenient? Are we too strict? Then he told me about something that happened last week and this morning’s incident reminded me of it:
Last week, one of the boys spilled their milk during breakfast. The Captain got a bit annoyed as it required clean-up and a change of clothes. Mornings are hectic enough without this ‘detour’. However, that same morning in his car in his way into the office, his coffee spilled a bit. And he thought back to his reaction to our son that morning and compared it to his reaction to his own spill. Two different reactions.
Imagine for a second if we were all to follow the ‘Golden Rule’ (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you) or even Mark 12:31 (Love your neighbour as yourself), how much kinder, less confrontational the world would be? Unless you’re one of those people who are super hard on yourself when you make a mistake…then I recommend that you chill out a bit.
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