Accountability

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted! I have no valid excuses.

Something in an e-mail I received today sparked me to post. I've been hearing a lot about accountability lately. . . at dinner with my sisters and Mom, at lunch today, in the news. . . and I think about it a lot at times. I just wish people would realize that their actions do not just affect themselves, and other peoples' actions do not have to affect us quite as much as WE ALLOW THEM TO! So here's a part of the e-mail I received today. It's from Nan Russell from a series of articles she calls "In the Scheme of Things".

"In second-day clothes after a canceled flight, we used the provided kits to brush our teeth and create some semblance of presentability for this unexpected stay. Working from a darkened hallway after room check-out, we waited for the evening shuttle to take us back to the airport, hoping for a positive outcome during this winter blast.
When we arrived finally at our destination, we were anxious to collect our luggage and head home for warm showers. But we found ourselves waiting in a line - this time to report missing luggage.
What happened next startled me. I couldn't help overhearing the conversation between a father and his college age daughter behind me. She was joining her family for a week's snowboarding vacation and her overstuffed snowboard bag had arrived but her suitcase hadn't. Turns out, she'd left that morning from the east coast and her bag had something in it she wanted to wear that evening. So she was whining a bit about the inconvenience.
But it was her father who focused the conversation. Reminiscing with his daughter about tidbits from past travel mishaps, it was clear that this dad was used to escalating his outrage until he got what he wanted. Ranting about the inefficiencies of small-town airports and incompetent airline employees, his venomous words fueled their plan.
"Maybe you should do what you did in St. Thomas" she suggested, offering to start the process by demonstrating her dismay to the agent first. "I can cry if you want," she offered. "No," he said. "Let me handle it. I'm in the mood to let someone have it and at least get you a free ticket or at some vouchers."
It wasn't their frustration over displaced baggage that surprised me; it was their calculating approach to an unintentional mishap. They viewed this incident as an opportunity to "get something." For the rest of us and the harried agent, their actions "gave something" - a bout of toxic emotions into our environment.
It's funny, that same afternoon in the darkened hotel hallway while catching up on email, I'd read a daily mediation about actions. "All things are important - they all count," it reminded.
I believe that's true. Our actions and words have a ripple effect. On the positive side, you never know when a seed you plant or the behavior you demonstrate may be someone else's inspiration. On the less than positive side, how many generations of this family or others like them, will act like victims spewing negativity into a collective world over minor incidents.
In the scheme of things, our actions do count. And it's the positive everyday ones that give most of us a way to contribute to and mold the kind of world we want to live in. This incident served as a reminder to me - the world needs a lot more of our help on the positive side."

It certainly gives me something to think about. . . one of my friends posted something on facebook saying, "Today I'm going to be 80/20 instead of 20/80" Somebody asked her what it meant, and she said, "I'm going to try to be 80% positive instead of 80% negative." I love it. I think we should all give it a try and see how it not only affects ourselves but the people around us as well!