Tonight, I learned a small lesson about handling provocations. Slow but steady progress in becoming a human being!
I was wearing a blue sweatshirt while walking down a sidewalk outside a busy restaurant at Arden Fair Mall. A group of teenage girls came up behind. "Hurry it up!" the leader admonished. The girl right behind me replied, "I could, but I'm stuck behind Ol' Blue here."
Breathtakingly-rude! I could have waxed indignant, but instead I collected myself, turned and smiled, let them pass, and said something innocuous like, "Guess I'll have to catch up to you then!" They smiled back. A moment of irritation dissolved into a moment of shared amusement. And it was SO easy too, but it required behaving contrary to the script.
I thought about all the similar moments I must have experienced, dating back to high school. All those lost moments!
Progress, slow but sure....
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