My Sensei, Brian Ricci, always told me, "You can't want more for the students than they want for themselves." That phrase really helps keeps me grounded. People never fail to disappoint me. This morning, for example, I walked my dog behind a guy who pitched his used paper coffee cup onto the grass in the park. The nearest public trash can was in plain view — SIX PACES AWAY. (Yep. Six. I counted them.)
Now, I'm not sure if this guy was my student or my teacher this morning, but there was no point yelling at him, or confronting him. After all, you can't fix stupid, and who wants to disturb a nice quiet walk on a beautiful morning?
So instead, I swallowed my disgust and disappointment. I just quietly picked up the cup and threw it away. Of course I picked it up. And then I spent the next 10 minutes picking up every other piece of trash I could find in the park. And then I did a few extra sets of pushups and crunches (I really had to burn off my anger). And then?
I finished my walk.
Yeah, people never fail to disappoint me.... The good news is that people never fail to surprise me, either. So there's hope.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment