It’s ironic how we skip past the simple things in life, the things that really cost us nothing yet can change a person’s world without us even realising it.
A smile at a stranger, holding the door open to let someone through, letting somebody go ahead of you in line while you’re waiting, the simple yet powerful words ‘thank you’.
It’s not as though any one of these things cost money, it’s not hard to acknowledge a person’s presence when we are out and about doing our thing, yet somehow we don’t see.
We don’t see the people walking past us in the mall, we don’t see the man who serves us at the local butcher, and we don’t see anybody except ourselves.
Nobody really gives a shit about the elderly man in front of them whose walking with a walking stick, as you’re trying to side step and get around, past and out that door because he is in the way, the only thing people give a shit about is firstly this man is in the fucking way, and secondly, he is frustrating the hell out of you, having to walk behind him.
Not a 2nd thought is given about this grandpa, as we exhale loudly and get around the object that stands in the way of whatever we are doing.
It’s not like you’re going to think of him hours later when you’re watching TV at home is it? Wondering what he is doing, thinking to yourself he’s probably still in aisle 2 over at the shopping centre, as you roll your eyes.
The harsh reality is we are selfish!
Deny this all you want, count in your mind all those things you do for others every day and say ‘I’m not fucking selfish, I do this and that and nobody does anything for me!’
Fact yes you, me, him, her we are selfish!
We are judgmental and presumptuous yet we fail to see our own flaws and when we do we dwell on them drowning in our own pool of pity.
Again selfish, when push comes to shove nobody is free of the selfish self-cantered me gene.
Giving $1 a week to a 3rd world country that you claim back on you taxes doesn’t make you any less selfish, sponsoring some end abuse to animals group again tax deductible doesn’t make you some saint, nor does going to church every Sunday and donating to that donation hat, as you listen to the sermon or whatever goes on in there.
What makes us less selfish costs nothing, sorry no it’s not something you get to claim at the end of the financial year, nor is it hard, it’s simple; it’s the ability to open our eyes and see around us.
The ability to use the manners that we were all brought up with regardless of what country you’re from, or what religion colour or race you are, we are all brought up with manners.
The simplicity of saying thank you, the ease of letting somebody go ahead of you, the smile at a passing stranger as you walk on by doing your thing, the simple acknowledgment of other humans around you is all that it takes.
Reality is it takes nothing to give, it costs no money, but the gift of caring about somebody other than yourself and what you have to achieve is priceless.
We have forgotten this simple gesture in our daily lives, we are quick to assume even faster to judge and at light speed we will push through the sound barrier to become the judge jury and executioner to another person who we see as doing one thing, yet in reality there actually doing the opposite to the presumption we have already decided is fact.
That group of teenagers hanging out at the shopping centre, they are not hanging out because they have nothing better to do, they have no place to call home tonight, they are not in their situation through choice, they are simply hanging out at that particular place in a group because they have become a make shift family to one another.
Regardless of the reason they have found themselves out there with nowhere to call home, no safety net of pocket-money or parents, there out there watching over one another keeping each other safe as they make their way through the darkest hours of their lives.
Yet we assume their hanging around being thugs, when they should be at school, their trouble, because there’s a group of them, we have already pre-determined that they are just hanging around, wastes of space, should be fucking working, just lazy teenagers, when In reality those teenagers have grown up faster than the speed of light that you have raced through breaking the sound barrier to judge and look down upon.
Everybody has a story everybody’s story is different, yours mine, his and hers maybe next time you’re out and about stop for a moment in time, and look with your eyes open at those passing you by.
“We have forgotten this simple gesture in our daily lives, we are quick to assume even faster to judge.” Love it! I try hard to be caring and kind not to judge and such but I must admit if I myself are having a bad day it is so easy just to walk by and be self absorbed.
I admit, I do get annoyed when I’m behind a slow older person. Then I feel bad for several reasons. First, it’s not their fault. Also, I know I’m slow to many other people. If I hear someone walking behind me, I’m paranoid that I might be in their way, so I try to get out of it. Plus, I don’t want to be rude to the older person and get all in their way . . . then I have a tough choice. I can be following right behind them and they might feel paranoid that I think they’re slow. Or if there’s an opportunity I can slither past them, and then they’ll find me rude.
I think its more of the fact that we have forgotten the simple things in our daily life, when I related the elderly person as an example in the blog, Hells bell’s they piss me off at the best of times, yet I have always respected the fact that their elderly, where as today kid’s just don’t respect, full stop. (a whole other blog). Its more the fact that it does cost us nothing to smile at a stranger, or to hold a door for somebody, yet we don’t, we walk around and don’t see with our eyes anymore, and judge whilst forgetting that we all live in a glass house of our own, and one day, the rocks we throw at others when we take the role of judge jury and executioner upon ourselves, will be the rocks that smash one of our own windows. Thank you for your comment ((hugs))