In the last 3 days, I've had the misfortune of seeing adults treating each other with anger and hostility. Right now it's summer, where you would think people would be happy on a sunny day. On Saturday, I was out for a run and I saw a car full of men yelling obscenities at a motorcyclist who was riding in the lane next to them. I heard the motorcyclist speeding up to try to get away. Now I don't know what may have happened prior to seeing them yelling, but I do know the motorcyclist was keen on riding away as fast as possible. Then while I was on a beach "boardwalk" running, I saw an annoyed cyclist touch the shoulder of a man riding his skateboard. The cyclist also said obscenities at the skateboarder who was so surprised at being yelled at and touched on the shoulder that he flew off his board. These were all grown adults.
Yesterday, while walking toward the pier I had an older gentleman say something rude to me, and then today while I was at Costco I had a couple turn out of the aisle, look at me with my cart, and they said, "Excuse you." I was not even in their way and I couldn't help but think how rude they were. It's funny because I normally have such pleasant interactions with people since I worked retail customer service for more than a decade and I'm in a line of work where I help others. I noticed though that these unpleasant interactions affected my mood and my day. Seeing and hearing what I did made me upset and outweighed the pleasant interactions I had with people over the last 3 days. It's strange how the negative often sticks with us more than the positive in life. They say that 1 bad review outweighs 10 good reviews, and I think in life unfortunately many times 1 negative comment can outweigh 10 pleasant comments.
I realize that we all have the power to make such an impact on each others' lives whether we know each other or not. A smile, being in the moment, having pleasant conversation, and having the intention of spreading kindness versus ill will can make a difference. After my Costco shopping experience I actually prayed for the world and how angry it seems to be getting, and I prayed that I would take God in as my grace and kindness to others. I know that by people being ugly and rude to me, that I have the choice to be ugly back or not. While I don't want to sit back and take rude comments from people, I also don't want to incite more anger or rudeness back. I just pray that each day I am able to make the choice to choose the power of kindness, to make someone else's day even if it's in the smallest way, and to make a difference. We all have the choice to impact each other in a positive or a negative way, so why not choose kindness?
