There are worse things in this world than worrying about what is going to be on TV, or maybe whether your team will win the game. As humans, sometimes we forget that “hierarchy of needs” Maslow was always talking about in your Psych class. One of the points of my books is what happens to us when that “hierarchy” gets put on hold, and the very things we take for granted are no longer available. There is no TV, news is sporadic, information is slower, and the world takes on a survival of the fittest mentality. Now, instead of being hyper focused on the person that cut us off in traffic, or how someone treated you in the check out line, you are literally fighting to just to survive. Having been to many less fortunate parts of the world, it becomes clear that we sometimes lose touch with how hard life REALLY can be for most of us. In some parts of the globe, it is more than just a UNICEF commercial, the starvation is real, and the hatred of each other, for bizarre reasons, is equally real. Spend a little time in a place like that, and you stop caring about things like the program change, or the needs of some no talent personality on the cover of a magazine.
Sadly, we shouldn’t need a shock to the system to start being more civil to one another, or to remind us of the real priorities in life. Being more tolerant of those that are offensive to us, especially during those few brief moments of interaction, is sometimes all it takes to keep you from making a mistake yourself. Remember, that person that jumped the line or pulled out in your lane, could be just having a really, really, crappy day, and they just didn’t see you. Maybe it doesn’t have a thing to do with you. Maybe, just maybe, it was a lapse of judgment on their part, and not some desire to see you die. For your part, just let it go and move on. The key is to remember that while life might be too short to put up with BS, it is also too short to let people live “rent free” in your mind. Never forget that which is most important, starting with your family and your friends. The “Biker” incident in NYC is just such an example, and a very sad indictment on that group’s mentality. I wonder what they would do in the face of a Gomer Invasion? Now that is the part that scares the hell out of me, since they would probably be worse than useless. Oh, wait, they already are worse than useless! ~ Michael S. Pauley
Sadly, we shouldn’t need a shock to the system to start being more civil to one another, or to remind us of the real priorities in life. Being more tolerant of those that are offensive to us, especially during those few brief moments of interaction, is sometimes all it takes to keep you from making a mistake yourself. Remember, that person that jumped the line or pulled out in your lane, could be just having a really, really, crappy day, and they just didn’t see you. Maybe it doesn’t have a thing to do with you. Maybe, just maybe, it was a lapse of judgment on their part, and not some desire to see you die. For your part, just let it go and move on. The key is to remember that while life might be too short to put up with BS, it is also too short to let people live “rent free” in your mind. Never forget that which is most important, starting with your family and your friends. The “Biker” incident in NYC is just such an example, and a very sad indictment on that group’s mentality. I wonder what they would do in the face of a Gomer Invasion? Now that is the part that scares the hell out of me, since they would probably be worse than useless. Oh, wait, they already are worse than useless! ~ Michael S. Pauley
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