It's Sunday morning. You just woke up at around 11 A.M. You went out the night before. Met someone special and now have those butterflies in your stomach because you feel as if they can be the one.Ā
And the best part is, no hangover!
Things are going pretty great for you to start your Sunday morning. Let's just say you also found 20 dollars while walking down the driveway to get your mail.Ā
It's Christmas time so let's also say it's mid December and you're in the Holiday spirit.Ā
Why not go for a Holiday tasting Starbucks drink five minutes from your house. It's Sunday, why not?
You're entering the parking lot and it's full of cars. Your automatic reaction is, "well here we go, now it's going to take longer to find a spot than order my drink."Ā
Then you find a spot about two steps away from the door. As if it was on hold just for you today. Now you're confident it's just your day.Ā
So now you're on line at Starbucks and it's just you and two other people ahead of you. The person behind the cash register is a woman probably in her early 20s. More-so on the heavier side and has a "REALLY don't want to be here" expression written all over her face.
The person she is currently ringing up is a woman probably in her late 40s, with two kids sprinting around the store touching everything and driving their mother crazy with the yelling.
Yes. Annoying for everybody. Ā
Then there's the person in front of you waiting in line. He's in his mid 50s and looks extremely irritated. As if he's in a rush to get somewhere immediately.Ā
You have this feel of heavy tension in the air. Between the unmotivated cashier, the stressed mother, and the rushed man forced to wait, you knew something was cooking up.Ā
The cashier asks the mother if she want's her brownie heated up pretty much under her breathe. The mother than responds angrily with a raised voice, "What?! Can you speak up, your like whispering and I can't hear s**t!"Ā
The cashier looks at the mother with the same dull look as if she still doesn't care about the job or the customer and responds, "Don't yell at me." That of course ended up firing up the customer even more.Ā
The manager then approaches, and listens as the mother explains her unpleasing customer service experience. "You have this girl ringing me up going slower than imaginable and giving me attitude while speaking under her breath...obviously doesn't want to be here," the mother said.Ā
The man behind the mother than bursts out, "This is bull s**t! I have somewhere I need to go and have been waiting here for 10 minutes because this chick doesn't want to do her damn job!"Ā
The two angry customers than somehow form this type of bond as they team up against the cashier. The cashier than takes off her apron and storms out of the cafe.Ā
You wonder what you just saw. It was tense, emotional, and confusing as to who you feel was at fault.Ā
Ā It was a perfect example of three different people engaging in conflict caused by their own personal worlds. These personal worlds are perspectives our mind makes us believe is all that matters. Especially in stressful situations. Ā
You want to blame the mother because of how she could've just understood it's a young girl who clearly doesn't want to work but may have to, and just politely ask what the cashier said.Ā
Then you want to blame the cashier because she's at work, and should't be so down and nasty to the customer.Ā
The man is another thought to be blamed because he should've just sucked it up and never dive in the argument in the first place.Ā
In reality, if all three characters were to just think open mindedly and take themselves out of the situation as the most important piece, the conflict wouldn't have been caused to begin with.Ā
Let's say the man in front of you is on his way to go see his 7-year-old sons first ever soccer game and is on a mission to bring his wife that holiday drink mentioned earlier. The argument that happened Ā made him 10 minutes late which is why he was so specific with the time he has wasted on line.Ā
Let's also say the mother is going through a stressful time knowing her husband (the father of the two kids) is cheating on her and she knows. She doesn't want to bring it up to her husband and ruin their childrens childhood being divorced. So there's a lot on her mind.Ā
Lastly, let's say nobody really knows what's exactly wrong with the cashier, but something isn't right.Ā
Every person in the world no matter what color, gender, or sexual preference they have, is suffering from something. Whether it's drastic or as minor as being upset that a certain app won't download, they're suffering.Ā
According to Healthline.com and written by Ann Pietrangelo on January of 2015, 5% of the worlds population suffers from Depression.Ā
That calculates to 350 million people worldwide. That percentage rises to 6.9% just in the United States.Ā
The situation with the man on line whose son is playing his first game ever is very important to him. Yet, if we were to say the young cashier just recently lost her mother to cancer and is forced to work because she needs to pay bills to keep her and her younger sister in a home; The soccer game might not be as important.Ā
If the man knew this about the cashier, do you think he would've added on to the mother's anger by chipping in? Or do you believe he would've understood the cashiers situation and put his not as drastic one in the back seat? Instead of adding to the mother's anger. Ā
For all I know, he could've thought, "screw her situation I want to see my boy play his first game of soccer!" But that's not the point of this story.Ā
The point of this story is that everybody is going through something. It's when we are tested as individuals to put our egos in the back seat and to get out of our unrealistic personal worlds more times than not.Ā
It prevents conflict and at the end of the day, can be a step closer towards peace.Ā
You on the other hand. Had the luxury to see this all unfold while having a great day. Not stressing much about anything.Ā
When we get stressed, it piles on and like the domino affect, makes everything else fall down. That's when we are most vulnerable to being stuck in our personal worlds and feeling as if everyone is out to get us. Ā
It's okay to be frustrated, and definitely fine to be angry at somebody, but always be aware that whoever that person is can be going through something so unbearable that you yourself wouldn't know how to handle it every day.Ā
So after all this nonsense I probably begged you to read for me, here is the unsettling truth we don't want to believe.Ā
NO MATTER WHAT YOU GO THROUGH, THERE IS SOMEBODY WHO IS GOING THROUGH WORSE.Ā