Empathy

One thing that has really helped me in my love for people this year is practicing empathy. The Bible can come alive if you put yourself in Jesus' place or Abraham's place or Mary's place, etc.

Sometimes I am surprised at the anger that people carry around with them. I was pondering this during my last travel excursion. I was in the airport. I had an interesting time getting there. Roads were closed, I was late, it was stressful. Once I got through security, I realized my flight was delayed significantly. Know that I had a very short connection, I was less than calm.

However, I watched as other passengers displayed outright rage on those around them. Is it the flight crew's fault that they don't have a plane to board? Is it there fault that a spare plane and new flight can't be created for you personal benefit? No. Why do people feel the need to treat others without dignity and decorum.

I was appalled and felt so terrible for the staff of Delta Airlines. They were in a frenzy trying to make ends meet on a day when flights were delayed everywhere. Yeah, it was stressful for us all. There was one couple who felt it necessary to berate the staff, treat them like imbeciles in order to get what they wanted. Guess what, they didn't. Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the oil but the wheel that refuses to work is gonna get itself thrown in the burn pile!

This is what really got to me. There was a man, so angry that he missed his connecting flight that he flew off the plane and burst down the jet way into the terminal. He was behind me, I could hear him coming. I looked over and saw a little boy walking. He was behaving himself, not doing anything wrong. He happened to wander (without knowing) in to the path of the little man who was angry. The man plowed buy him, rolled over his foot with his bag and yelled insults to both the boy and his mom.

Really? Argh! I was so upset to see that one human, or several for that matter, could be so cruel. We all love the idea of "what the world needs now is love, sweet love" or "all we need is love" or "make love not war" in a secular view of the world. Why then are we so mean to each other. Just a thought.