October 14th, 2021
Are you angry when someone’s armpits stink or when their breath is bad? What would be the point? Having such a mouth and such armpits, there’s going to be a smell emanating. You say, they must have sense, can’t they tell how they are offending others? Well, you have sense too, congratulations! So, use your natural reason to awaken theirs, show them, call it out. If the person will listen, you will have cured them without useless anger. No drama nor unseemly show required.
Reading this short meditation, I was reminded about an issue I had while I was on a flight. There was a gentleman in the center aisle who made sure to take up as much room as he could with one leg resting in front of the window seat, the other leg in front of my seat. Being a true Minnesotan, I wasn't appreciative of the intrusion into my personal space. I tried to reclaim as much of the space in front of my seat, but this man wasn't having any of it.
Trying to move on, I put my headphones as the plane was still loading in hopes to get a short nap in before we arrived at our destination. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back to relax. Shortly after we started to taxi from the gate. Moments after that, there was a tremor building in the plane. I opened my eyes to see the man in the center seat, develop a severe case of restless leg syndrome. This didn't stop until we landed. I was furious.
I let the experience affect my entire flight. I didn't sleep, I was frustrated, crabby and irritated. The one thing I was not? Communicative. Not once did I try to talk this man and explain politely to him that his leg tremors were causing me some irritation. In hind sight, my guess is the man didn't even realize he was violently shaking his leg. If I had spent thirty seconds talking to him and finding a way to ask him to be thoughtful about his leg thumping there is a good chance the flight would have been different.
The lesson today is a reminder that honesty (when given with compassion) can be more effective than any passive aggressive comment or note that a Minnesotan can muster.