“Shut up when I'm
talking to you...”
-Linkin Park
Matthew 5:37a, “But
let your 'yes' mean 'yes' and 'no' mean 'no'...”
There's an awful lot
of interpretation in everyday life for seemingly straightforward
instructions. Apparently there's a lot of ambiguity left to chance
with ordinary phrases used in daily conversations. I've seen this a
lot otherwise I wouldn't believe it myself. Let me give several
clarifying (hopefully) examples of what I mean.
You have a job and
you start to work at your job on Monday morning at 8am. This is a
new job let's say, for the sake of discussion, and you have someone
meeting you at the front of the office building to guide your through
the introductions and show you around. They start the same time as
you.
One person shows up
in the parking lot at 7:45am and another shows up in the parking lot
at 8:00 on the dot. What's the problem? The problem for the person
showing up at 8:00 is that unless you work in the parking lot you're
late.
Another person makes
an appointment, with the doctor, with the car mechanic or with the
sweedish meatball expert, take your pick. They cancel at the last
minute. Some will call with a verifiably decent excuse. Others will
simply call and cancel, no excuse. Some will fail to call at all.
So the appointment where that person was going to offer you a
service, charge for it, and make money, is now gone. Maybe the
cancellation is no big deal but maybe it is, maybe they need that
money.
Last example, you
catch a ride with someone and they agree to a meet up at a specific spot at a
certain time. You are running late and you call and tell them. Now,
whatever the reason for your lateness you have inconvenienced your
ride in multiple ways. They have wasted time, in waiting for you,
they have spent gas in driving to where you are meeting and now, if
they wait for you, they have to spend more time and gas waiting for
you and risk being late to where you are both going.
All these are minor
examples, they happen every day. But I see some people treat them as
if it's no big deal that they have inconvenienced other people and
make lame excuses for it. I see the opposite as well, some people
are terribly sorry and genuinely embarrassed by making others wait
for them.
How much different
would life be if we kept all our obligations, no matter what?
Granted that's not possible but what if we really worked to make it
so. Sacrificing getting ready and looking our best, to taking time
off in order to keep our appointment we forgot about. Would that
make an impact on how we set about scheduling our time and keeping
our commitments?
It would be
interesting to see what the results would be, they might just be
great...
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