I Refuse....

"to let anyone or anything get me upset this Christmas season," SHE explained on a sunny afternoon.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, here's an example.  I was driving behind an elderly gentleman in a 40 MPH zone, and he was going - maybe 10 at top speed.  Normally, this would have irritated the heck out of me, but I had decided NOTHING WOULD UPSET me.  So, I smiled and thought to myself about him.  'Good for him...he's not in a big hurry like the rest of us.  How great is that?'

"Then I was in a store and these tweens were acting all silly and obnoxious.  Again, this usually would have made me so annoyed at their behaviour.  But, I smiled at them.  I thought of me at that age...it's such an exciting time.  And, I thought, 'Youth is so fleeting...you just go ahead and act youthful....'

"Eating lunch at a restaurant one day, I had a waitress who was the most rude I have ever had.  She was obnoxious, curt, and ornery.  Ordinarily, I would have treated her the same way.  But I held my tongue and smiled at her realizing she has a very challenging job...you simply cannot please everyone!"

"Wow, totally revolutionary," I said in sort of mock humour. 

SHE told me about another incident where an old lady was trying to fill out paper work....the line became longer behind the elderly lady, but SHE smiled to herself and thought it was so great the lady could be out and about doing things at her point in life.

"People are always talking about PEACE and JOY at Christmas, then they behave as though they don't really have those feelings in their hearts.  I decided that I WOULD have those feelings, no matter what happened; red lights, slow-moving shopping lines, rude waitresses, obnoxious shoppers.  I WILL NOT let others dampen my feelings of PEACE and JOY this year!"

As I drove away, I thought,

"Perhaps there really COULD/WOULD be peace on earth, if we all behaved as SHE has decided to."