Yesterday, I sat in an unusually high amount of traffic. Everywhere I went, I found myself facing delays. Consequently, I had trouble staying on schedule and even missed some of my meetings.
When I began my trip home, I was glad that it was later in the evening. As expected, the traffic was light and the trip home seemed like it would be smooth sailing. Unfortunately, that pattern did not last very long and before I knew it I was in another slow down.
We were moving, but only at about 5 miles per hour. I could see the lights of emergency vehicles ahead and could calculate about how long it would take to get through the mess. I was tired, but not too tired to worry about the people involved. I resolved to be patient as I made my way through.
Looky Loos
The accident was a near an overpass. As I approached, I could see many people who were pressed against the fence, looking down at the wreck. This made me worry even more about the people involved. The cars ahead of me were slowly passing by the scene – I could see that many were struggling to get a look at what was going on.
When I got to the site of the pile-up, I looked over and discovered that it was only a very minor accident. Everybody involved looked like they were ok. The emergency technicians were speaking with the people and moving their vehicles out of the way. I was happy to discover this, but I now felt irritated by the time lost in the delay.
The people on the overpass were not moving they just kept standing there. Their presence was contributing to the slow down as everybody thought there was something to see so they drove slowly by. I wondered, "what is the attraction?" and "What were they expecting or hoping to see?"
The Wrecks of Life
There are wrecks all around us. In my opinion, we spend too much time focusing on them. For some reason the nightly news is almost entirely focused on the bad things that are going on around us.
We can choose watch these pile-ups, but I submit that there is very little value. I know the intent is to make us more aware and sympathetic to the plight of humanity, buy I recommend that instead of fostering greater care for others it calluses us and creates a resistance to feeling anything at all. In short, it actually desensitizes us to the pain and suffering of others because we begin to think, "it happens all the time, and there is nothing we can do about it."
There Is Beauty All Around
I dare you to focus today on the beauty that is all around you. I dare you to use inspiring language. I dare you to walk away when an off color story is told. I dare you to stand up for virtue.
Looking away from the profane and tragic events of the world does not mean that we hide our heads in the sand. It simply means that we focus our attention on the beauty that is all around us, which in turn leads us to become more sensitive to the tragedies. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but we actually develop a greater capacity to care for others and, more importantly to do something about it.
What wrecks are you allowing in your life?
What must happen for you to be able to look toward the beauty?
Where will your strength to help others come from?
You can look at anything you want. Some will tell you that there are no consequences for looking, but there most certainly are very real consequences. Just like the delays caused by "Looky Loos" our life also suffers from looking at the wrecks that cannot inspire or engage. Don't get caught in that traffic trap. Look at the beauty. It is all around us.
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