Someone Will Come After You
And I don’t mean you’re being chased, followed or targeted. I mean, there is always someone who will follow where you’ve been. Someone who will use the toilet, walk through the door, drive on that road after you’ve been there. I haven’t figured out another way to say that we need to be in consideration of others.
That’s the mantra I parented by. Don’t leave the next toilet user stranded without toilet paper. Don’t litter because someone else lives here, too. Think of the people who will also drive on this road, walk this trail, use this playground. THINK of others.
My office is in a small building and 20 of us small business owners share two restrooms and a kitchenette. 95% of the time, the others are most considerate. Including bringing in the stray Amazon package left in the vestibule and setting it on the lobby table. Including refilling the espresso machine with more water after use. Ah, and yes replacing the roll of TP.
I started thinking about how rare it is in today’s society to see much consideration in general. Public restrooms often display litter and untidiness. Store aisles have leftover trash or abandoned merchandise. Or, have merchandise locked up because of theft levels. Drivers change lanes or read texts without signaling or thinking of others trying to navigate the same route. Fellow shoppers don’t step to the side or block main thoroughfares to have acquaintance reunions. Store clerks do not thank us for spending our hard earned dollars — instead they tell us to have a nice day.
Our culture has forgotten about the faceless and the visible others that are here, too. The idea that everyone else besides me and my story is a non-participating character is eroding our values and respect for others. Why can’t we hold strangers, much less our people, in high regard? We’ve become a network of finger-pointing, self-focused and subjective thinking pouncers. Me, me, me. And I’m not practicing the scale.
What would happen if we really paid attention to the meaning of the words “BE KIND” on our t-shirts? It encompasses a lot more than one might think.
