Be Good To Each Other

I rode my bike through a cloud of fiberglass the other day. As weird as that may sound, what is even weirder was I saw it coming. 

Mad World

How I saw it coming was before I left for work, I was looking out the bedroom window and I saw a piece of fiberglass insulation fly out of a dump truck riding down my street. By the time I rode my bike out of the garage onto the street, the insulation had suffered a half hour of being run over by dozens of cars, shredding into hundreds of pieces, and creating a dust cloud of fiberglass. I did not see it until it was too late, until I was right in the thick of it.

The same day that this occurred, Brian McNaught posted on his blog this interesting take on what we leave behind entitled, "Clean Up Your Calling Card". It is all about the ripple effects of our actions. In his closing statement, Brian states,

“Attending to unwanted calling cards means keeping your eyes and ears open to what is going on, accepting responsibility to clean up after your behaviors, and proactively addressing the negative impact your bad behaviors have on others.”

As I thought about this statement and the dump truck that dropped some insulation on my street, I thought about how this is one of the hardest things to do in life.

The Working Hour

I did feel a bit ill after I rode through the cloud and wondered if I would contract an incurable lung disease. Even though that is far-fetched, it could come true and it would be the result of someone’s unintentional carelessness. Despite that I find it annoying, even I am responsible for unintentional carelessness. So are you. We all are. That is the reason it is important to forgive those who trespass upon us. We have all unknowingly trespassed upon someone else.

Forgiving is not easy. You may know your behavior was unintentional. You may know you are attempting to be an upstanding citizen, co-worker, parent, etc. However, how can someone else be completely sure of your intentions? So many people have been hurt by intentional carelessness at home or at work. People willingly cheat, lie, and steal. Many times, we are not aware of it until we are in the thick of it. 

Shout

I try to be one of the good guys. Yet I have been accused of cheating, lying, and stealing, and of intentional carelessness when neither case was true. Sometimes it is impossible to convince otherwise and that can be annoying. Recently another bicyclist accused me of recklessness. Given that over 95% of bicyclists I see in this city ride with no regard to traffic rules, patterns or safety, and I do, I felt resentment over the other bicyclist's lack of proper perception. I tried to be polite, but was met with a "go f@#k yourself”. Clearly, I was not winning this one over. Therefore, I kept riding. As wrong as he was, and as intentionally careless he was with his words, I just could not bring myself to be the same back. It would have been just like the fiberglass cloud. Fighting with this person would have just polluted the air. 

Sowing The Seeds Of Love

One of the folks that I am glad I am getting to know is Joe Gerstandt. We are in the planning stage with some other folks for a project that I think is going to have a positive ripple effect (cannot wait to spill the beans-but I am sworn to secrecy). Joe ends every blog post with “be good to each other”. As I put this post together, I kept thinking about these words. I like these words. If this was the world's motto, there would be less lying, cheating, stealing, and intentional carelessness. It's as simple as that.