Turn It Around

Many times it is easy to get caught up in what other people are doing and the impact it has on you. After an incident in a Wal Mart parking lot I would ask you to turn it around and look at what you are doing and the impact it may have on others.

I was turning up an isle in the parking lot looking for a spot to park. I learned long ago it is much easier to drive to the end of an isle furthest from the store. It saves time compared to slowing down and waiting for every person getting into their car to get situated and then finally pull away. Plus, the added benefit is that I get the opportunity to add a little exercise for the extra distance I have added. On my way up this one way isle I come to a dead stop. The reason is that a Cadillac two cars in front of me has decided to wait for a spot of a shopper that is loading their car with groceries. The one way isle is so small that you can’t go around the vehicle in front of you. At this time I cannot back up because a vehicle has pulled behind me.

I sit there for what seems to be five minutes trying to figure out how to get around the vehicles so I can go find a spot where few dare to go. Having no success I just wait. During this eternity of time I have begun to think not so nice things about the driver who seems to have all day and is oblivious to the cars he is holding up behind himself. I also wonder how someone can be so lazy as to not be able to walk an extra 20-30 feet.

It is at this time I realize to turn it around. The gentleman could be very well be thinking about how so many people are inpatient as to not wait for someone to put their groceries away. What has this world come to that everyone is so busy and has no time to relax and reduce stress?  So, me being me I have decided to make a comment to the gentleman if he dares to be outside his car when I walk by. That comment was going to be, “Sir, I don’t know what is worse, you being so lazy or me being so inpatient. But either way we have issues.”  By God’s grace the gentleman wasn’t out of his car when I walked by and of course I was in too much of a hurry to wait for him to get out so I could make myself feel better by making my crafty comment. After all I had exercise to do.

As the day went on I thought about the situation more and more. I realized that if I can remember to turn things around in the future then I would probably have much less stress and better be able to understand others perspective. And as my wife reminds me it may just keep me alive longer. It will prevent me from making a comment to the wrong person one day who may just pull out a gun and shoot me.