Everyone, meet Murphy. This persistent little critter has been popping up all over my room. One day he’ll be sitting next to my flip-flops, another day I’ll find him hanging out on my bureau, and then today he was waiting by the door to welcome me home. At first, I found his antics a bit creepy. His long, slightly curled antennas triggered long forgotten images of outdated handlebar mustaches, and the shape of his back and its coloring haunted me with their similarity to many a horrid tie that I was forced to witness while working in the business world. But that was before I opened my mind, nay, my world, to what was really going on.
You see, too often we judge our interactions with others by basing them entirely on what we have dealt with before, as opposed to viewing each moment as something new and unique. That car honking at you on the freeway could be just another road-raging jerk, or maybe he is only in a hurry because his wife is having their first child in the hospital and he doesn’t want to miss it (can you really blame him?). That guy staring at you could be another malcreado who deserves to be slapped, or maybe the cherry snowcone you recently enjoyed got on your face and it looks like you need medical attention.
You just never know. In the case of Murphy, I had to stop a second and really look at was going on in the situation. The facts were as follows: 1) He always appeared in a different location, 2) he wasn’t always in an obvious place, but nor was he completely hidden, 3) he never made any noises to draw attention to himself, and 4) The pattern and colors of his appearance never changed. It should be obvious by now to everyone what was happening. He was trying to engage me in a live version of Where’s Waldo! Now, every time I walk into my room I keep an eye out for my playful friend. It is just so thoughtful of him to play a game in order to keep my mind off of all this heat. That’s a true friend, right there.
Alright, maybe that isn’t exactly what is going on, but I find I’m calmer when I look at it this way instead of thinking of it as a large, slightly creepy insect running wild within my room. Sometimes, it’s all about perspective. And if that doesn’t work, shoot for outright denial.
March 15, 2009 at 3:05 am
Awesome. This cracks me up and is serious at the same time. Your look on perspective I totally agree with. I think this is why God asks us to focus on Him and NEVER FEAR. If Fear is driving your perspective – you view life in too limited of a way, really not living at all. If you instead view life with God given purpose – you can truely live.
October 31, 2009 at 7:05 pm
I love it! Where’s Murphy!?
It also made me think of this quote:
“We die to each other daily. What we know of other people is only our memory of the moments during which we knew them. And they have changed since then. To pretend that they and we are the same is a useful and convenient social convention which must sometimes be broken. We must also remember that at every meeting we are meeting a stranger.” – T.S. Eliot, The Cocktail Party