On Saturday night, I relearned a lesson I already knew. Often times, we need to be reminded of lessons we learned as a child. When we were children, things were simpler. We didn’t judge, we just played with everyone…all the other children were our friends. We learned to judge, as we grew older. Our teachers always taught us right from wrong…but did we listen?
I pulled into a gas station as I was driving home, only to find out it was closed. It looked open, the lights were on…but it was definitely closed. As I tried to get back in my car, I realized that I locked the keys in my car…no problem? I’ll just call my wife to bring me my spare set of keys. I was only about 15 minutes from home…no biggie, right? Wrong…my cell phone was locked in the car also! I looked for a pay phone…nope, nothing! I looked to see if there was any other business that was open…nope, nothing! There was nothing in sight; no one was there…just me!
As time went on, I must admit, I was getting a little nervous. There I was, by myself, in the middle of the night, and I didn’t know what to do. I paced back and forth…stupid, stupid, stupid…I said to myself. So at this point, I gave up and started walking down the highway hoping I would see a car pass by…nope, nothing!
After about ten minutes or so, I saw a bunch of guys (okay, they looked like thugs). I wasn’t sure what to do? Do I ask them for help? Or do I walk briskly away (run like hell was actually going through my mind), before I get my keister kicked? I didn’t have a choice, as one of them approached me. I was nervous…I tried to stay calm, cool, and collected.
After a brief conversation, he offered me his cell phone to call my wife. She got there shortly with my spare set of keys…and all was good. I offered the young lad (we were chums by this point) some money for his services…but he politely declined. I drove home…but I didn’t feel right. I pre-judged those kids because of how they were dressed, because they were hanging around at 2 A.M. in the middle of nowhere.
As I dropped off my daughter at pre-school today, I told her to have fun and play nice with all the other kids. She went off and started playing with all her friends…If only I was as smart as she!
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3 comments:
It amazing how kids are born as a clean slate and the adults of the world turn them into people who judge. I think it was Erma Bombeck who wrote a book or column titled "All I Ever Needed to Learn, I Learned in Kindergarten". It is so true!! After that we start to judge people by clothes, weight, career, etc. Great Blog!!
The Commish Here,
I agree, we always seem to look at people in different ways due to apperance. I know being over weight I always seem to be odd person picked. Yet I am usally good at games and made me try harder, and made my teams better.
I also worked retail and was a manager early at age 18. I was always dissed by upper managment and had to work harder to prove I was there for a reason. I rember when Bradless was closing, the one manager I was working with told me something I will never forget. He said when I first came to work Horsham Bradlees and Still at Norristown store, He thought I was going to be a young punk kid with overbearring attitude. After working with me he realized he was wrong. He told ma at my age I worked with great respect for others and that I really proved to him never judge to you meet people.
So I might joke about a persons gear but will not judge them with out giving them the benefit of doubt. Something you do learn at an early age. To bad we seem to forget it as we get older.
Vet...nice to see thyat you are doing well after your surgery. With all your free time now, try and see if you can pull off the 12 team trade!
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