Saturday, June 26, 2010

Lessons in "Grace" should be mandatory for life...

I am not a rude person, Im not just saying that to toot my horn Im just not, I dont find pleasure in hurting someones feelings, someone close or a perfect stranger, I just dont find it necessary to make someone else hurt in order to make myself feel better, and I really can not understand how people can go about thier lives concerned only with themselves and what makes them feel good in the moment...

It is beyond my comprehension as to why a man finds it necessary to honk and flip off an older gentlemen driving down the highway because he doesnt seem to be driving "fast" enough...Im mean we have all done it gotten frustrated at the little old lady driving 50 in the fast lane, I personally just go around her and continue on my way but there are those people, the people who clearly were not shown any grace in thier life so they dont know how to extend it to others, so they become angry and bang on thier horn (probably scaring the crap out of the poor old man) and flip him off all while flying down the highway as if tehy were in a high speed chase...yes man in your big red truck YOU need a lesson in grace.

I wonder about the man tapping is foot in anger and muttering under his breath profanitys at the lady in front of him at the checkout line who maybe has 14 items instead of 10 in the 10 items or less line....maybe she didnt count her items and just assumed she had 10 or maybe it was something worse maybe her child was sick at home and she needed to get back as fast as possiable and just didnt have time to wait behind all the people with cartloads of food, surely that women deserved some grace, surely she didnt need to feel berated and embarressed for being in a checkout line with 4 extra items....Yes you, that man with the tatoo and the beard YOU need a lesson in grace.

And ofcourse there is my starbucks barista ( I have many but I will speak about the one I saw today) I am talking to you, the women wearing high heels that were waaaayyyyy to high and a skirt that was way to short and a bag about is big as you, when you reamed out that barista for making your light frappachino wrong, dont you think you were just a little to harsh, it is busy in there and she IS making hundereds of frappachinos, lattes and other coffee concoctions and hour, perhaps she did make a mistake, perhaps she wasnt paying close enough attention, but maybe she had something bigger on her mind, maybe she was thinking how her rent was going to be late or maybe she found out she failed a course or maybe worse yet maybe she found out that someone she loves is sick and she couldnt concentrate perfectly to make sure your frappachino had that extra shot of expresso in it. Perhaps you should give yourself more then 3 minutes when you plan for your starbucks run, accidents happen, mistakes are made, maybe well not maybe YOU need a lesson in grace, because normal people dont berate other members of the human when there coffee gets screwed up.

And there is YOU, The Phamacist, no not the regular one who is sweet and caring but YOU the one who sat chopping on a brownie and soda for 20 minutes while I waited to hand in my sons prescription, you sat there and watched me stand there and not say a word til I shifted my foot position and sighed and then you promptly came over to me giving me a lesson in how YOU should not have to work through your break and that YOU dont have enough help and that I shouldnt sigh so loudly....well you mister mean pharmacist YOU need a lesson in grace, because you never know how you are talking to and what there story is, you didnt know I had just moved all my belonging from my home into a strorage unit because my husband killed himself, you didnt know that my heart has been broken and that I myelf have been ill for days, you didnt know my story behind my exhausted sigh, I think dear pharmacist you need a lesson in grace, in compassion and not just for me but for the human race...

for anyone out there who might sigh just a little to loud or drive just a little to slow or has a few to many items in line or perhaps just makes a mistake....well for all you people out there I think you (I) deserve some grace and really I truely feel it should be mandatory before one enters society that if they werent taught grace by thier parents...They should be made to take lessons in GRACE!!

For we dont know what burdens others bare....

Next time when your patients have run thin, think about how you would want to be treated, show a stranger some grace, I think really it would make this world a much better place.

Love, Tara

(the ryhme in the last sentence was not intentional but cute anyway :) )

5 comments:

Sairs said...

I really hate people like this. I mean, geez, life is full of enough stress without upsetting people that really can't handle being hurt that way. I am sorry you had to deal with a horrible pharmacist and 20 minutes is a long time to wait when he is just sitting there. Looking after your order would have taken 5 minutes. I hope you feel better soon.
*hugs*
Sarah

firefly said...

Ummm maybe we all need a lesson on grace. Nobody is perfect all the time. Even the best of us can be a little impatient sometimes. We are not in their shoes to judge and maybe the pharmacist was doing you a favor by filling the prescription on his break time. I do know many a pharmacist who doesn't have time to get something to eat on their eight hour shift. Maybe we need to rethink the rushing around and take a break once in a while. Live life a bit slower filling those extra minutes with a kind conversation. I like no other hate waiting in lines but if they all look equally long I will go to the one that looks the most fun. Umm which one has people laughing, a cute baby in tow, or exasperated children? I'm resolved that Im going to have to take a break so which bunch of people do I want to hang out with? This week I had an odd experience of sitting in the waiting room and instead of awkward silence and people busy with themselves. There was a conversation going on which everyone was the audience just because they were there. I guess instead of wanting things like yesterday enjoy those moments and look for the good in all people.
Umm Tara, people don't wear things on their outside as you so well know that person , who you judged at starbucks may not have said the right words but who knows what was going on with her. We all have burdens to carry in this world and no ones burdens should be measured by another persons. You can live in the past or choice to move on. I don't know what I'm trying to get to in here. Maybe it's because I'm having a hard time today with grief. You know the kind when someone's life is cut so short and those minutes seem so precious that complaining that it was going to take longer to fill a prescription doesn't matter in the big picture. Who am I to judge the person that stick his finger out at me because I'm driving slow? When that happens to me I just blare some christain music on the radio or say have a nice day. Life is too short !
T: I'm not cutting you down at all I get it .

Zena said...

Sarah honey I know you are grieving right now too...but really the whole point of this post was that EVERYONE should be kinder to each other because no one knows what the other persons load is...

and as for my pharmicist well he was full of shit cause the pharmacy closes from 1:30 to 2 pm every day so that they may take their break so he had just had his break maybe he hadnt finished his desert but thats really his problem...and the whole thing was I didnt say a word I just stood there waiting as he ate...it wasnt until I shifted my position which after standing for 20 min I feel entiteled to do did he come over and yell at me because I sighed, I was not rude I did not provoke him, if anything I extended HIM grace by being patient, but that wasnt good enough for this grumpy man, and maybe he had some crap going on to, but I didnt need to be yelled at it for it....I didnt yell at him, but the thing is that today I witnessed 4 occassions of people just being rude, or nasty just because they could giving nop thought as to how there action would affect the person they were being nasty to...I went to my car and sobbed....and maybe the starbucks women did too she looked pretty upset...this world is cruel enough without the other members who live in it makeing it even worse.

Angela Elain Gambrel said...

The world does need kindness and grace. I sometimes show it; I sometimes make mistakes and I am not as kind as I could be. This post calls me to remember that, especially during a time I am hurting and long for kindness (I plan to blog about it when I am ready.)

lisalisa said...

I swing back and forth...sometimes I am the nice lady who lets someone go ahead of me in the grocery line because they just have a few things and I have a whole cart....but unfortunately sometimes I am the person who gets angry at the little old lady doing 50 in a 65 zone. I would never give her the finger but I think angry thoughts. But usually i feel instantly ashamed of myself and say a little prayer and ask the Lord for patience. I have noticed though that as I get older I have become less kind and more judgemental, and this dismays me. I pray about it all the time and really hope I don't end up a bitter old hag!
Anyways, thanks for giving me something to think about!