Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Merci

Perry Noble posted this as a tweet status, "When we automatically assume the worst about people ~ we cannot effectively lead them!" 


This hit me between the eyes. I have had to remove myself from following leaders who automatically assumed the worst of me. It destroyed their influence and my trust. 


They believe they are right and I deserved their bad opinions. I can't talk them out of their assumptions or opinions, nor should I try. Respect was not mutual.  


Last night we ate out. I made a split second judgement of our blonde little waitress. In my instant opinion, she could have been wearing only pink rabbit ears and a puffy tale. Within minutes, I felt this sick remorse and sorrow, that I had so quickly assumed what she was like. I was so wrong!  Completely wrong. 


As the night wore on, she noticed my handcrafted silver bracelet, recognized it was from the middle east, told us she had been to India twice for months at a time. It was obvious, after I let go of my opinion that she was a kind, generous, sweet girl who really cared about others.


As we left, she gave me the name, address, phone number and e-mail of her jeweler. The bracelet that became the catalyst for changing my mind, needs a small repair. 


That little scrap of paper represents mercy - in french, merci means thank you.  

3 comments:

Glynn said...

Kathleen, your story applies to all of us. Great post.

L.L. Barkat said...

I love that... merci being related to mercy.

Anonymous said...

this is a wonderful post, and i like the tweet that it started with.