Life’s Funny Little Refresher Lessons

Life handed me a refresher lesson this morning.  I had just managed to drag myself out of bed and start making coffee and some oatmeal when my doorbell rang.  Something you need to know about me, I’m not a morning person, and I despise unannounced company.  So I do what I normally do when someone rings my doorbell and I’m not expecting anything or anyone, I ignored it.  A few seconds later, there was a knock at my door.  Not an obnoxious type of knock that demands immediate attention, but a softer, respectable type of knock.  This gets my attention, so I go to the peep hole to see who it is.

I see a large SUV parked on the street, its lights are on and it’s running.  And I see a rather large man, tall and kind of burly, standing on my front porch.  The waiting truck makes me think it’s a solicitor, or maybe even a Jehovah’s Witness (they’re persistent and notorious in my neighborhood).  And this makes me really angry, because I have a “No Soliciting” sign on my door, at a level that anyone tall or short can easily see.  For someone to ignore my sign, ring my doorbell, and then knock on my door and demand my attention when I’m clearly ignoring them?  Oh, it’s on.  So I open the door, my hair all over my head, in my pajamas, with a ‘this better be good’ look on my face.

Despite my death glare, this man smiles and speaks, and then proceeds to tell me he’s picking up a bed that he agreed to buy off of Craigslist.  And then my face softens as I remember my daughter told me to expect someone to come by and buy her old bed, and that she would be at work so if I could handle it for her, she’d appreciate it.  I asked him to give me a minute so I could get dressed, and when I finally made it outside, I apologized immediately.  I felt so bad that I almost forgot to get the money from him, which he enthusiastically reminded me he owed.

How many times in life have you assumed something, based on someone’s actions, or something they said, without bothering to seek to understand?  Without asking follow-up questions, or without putting yourself in that person’s shoes to try to figure out how they may feel about a situation that you’ve already made your mind up about?  How many times have you simply made up your mind, or made a decision, based on sketchy, minimal information?

I thought I’d share this little reminder this morning.  Don’t be so quick to jump to conclusions.  Seek first to understand before making up your mind or forming an opinion.  You could quite possibly be wrong.

Putting my pogo stick away for the day,

Angela