Sometimes selfish people chap my...
You get the picture right? I am sure you have seen it too. Someone thinking of no one but themselves compromises someone else putting them in a bad, uncomfortable or dangerous situation. Two days in a row now I have seen just that.
Yesterday I went with my entire crew to immunizations on base. It was an early release day and the place was packed with parents taking their children to get the flu vaccine. As we were getting closer to front of the line I overheard a conversation that really made me feel uneasy. A mother was at the desk with her two daughters waiting their turn to be called back. She asked if they were getting the shot or the mist. The immunization tech explained the the shot was reserved for people who had health conditions such as asthma or pregnancy because they had a very limited supply come in. Everyone else was supposed to get the flu mist vaccine which is actually stronger then the shot. Well the mother started to throw a fit saying her daughters would not get the mist, claiming they would run. She also suddenly came down with a case of anemia. Her daughters were both preteen age but to young to go off base to get the shot. Her one daughter spoke up in protest as her mother claimed she would run if given the mist, but was quickly hushed by her mom as she was ruining her fit. So they all started proclaiming how they wanted the shot would not take the mist. After both techs continued to explain the situation the mother leaned forward spoke quietly to a tech and they were all three taken back and given the shots they wanted. Daughters left giggling and mom left triumphant.
Listening to the whole thing unfold I really wanted to say a few choice things to that mother and her daughters. By refusing to take the mist that was being offered they just denied three people the shot, three people who because of a health compromise can not take the mist. The mother succeeded in teaching her daughters that being selfish is the way to go. The techs who gave in pretty much just proved they have a double standard going on. Pitch a fit loud enough and rules go out the window. It was certainly an interesting thing to watch. I held my tongue not seeing much point in getting into it with someone who could not think past her own selfish desires. That and the fact that being arrested was not on my to do list and was very likely to happen if I spoke up about my opinion to loudly. As you know I was already not in the best mood!
This morning was a little different. Dropping off Justice at Wee Wings a very distraught woman came over to the bus just sobbing. I know she works at the school but I am not exactly sure who she was. An emergency had come up and she was blocked in. The Wee Wings bus was in front of her vehicle and the line of parents dropping off their kids by car was behind it. The parents driving would not stop to let her back out! Of course the Wee Wings bus could not be moved but another mom and I decided traffic could be stopped. The Wee Wings teacher took Justice from me and the other mom and I marched around quickly to stop the line. With both of us walking out there they sure weren't going to hit us. The other mom put her hand up and stood in front of the one vehicle and I stayed closer to the woman's vehicle as she backed out and pointed out the opening for her to go through to get out of the parking lot. Of course those people in line could have stopped at the site of her getting in her car and putting on the reverse lights but they didn't, driving an already frazzled woman to tears as all she wanted was to get to wherever the emergency was. A minute of kindness would have saved all that trouble!
This is just my observations from the past two days. We are all selfish. We all have our reasons for being so. Our selfishness always affects others, usually people we do not know and more often then not it affects the people we do know. I have also noticed that people will often just give in to others selfishness compromising others in the process or falling into despair as the selfishness affects them directly.
Do we even think about how what we do affects those around us?
Yesterday I went with my entire crew to immunizations on base. It was an early release day and the place was packed with parents taking their children to get the flu vaccine. As we were getting closer to front of the line I overheard a conversation that really made me feel uneasy. A mother was at the desk with her two daughters waiting their turn to be called back. She asked if they were getting the shot or the mist. The immunization tech explained the the shot was reserved for people who had health conditions such as asthma or pregnancy because they had a very limited supply come in. Everyone else was supposed to get the flu mist vaccine which is actually stronger then the shot. Well the mother started to throw a fit saying her daughters would not get the mist, claiming they would run. She also suddenly came down with a case of anemia. Her daughters were both preteen age but to young to go off base to get the shot. Her one daughter spoke up in protest as her mother claimed she would run if given the mist, but was quickly hushed by her mom as she was ruining her fit. So they all started proclaiming how they wanted the shot would not take the mist. After both techs continued to explain the situation the mother leaned forward spoke quietly to a tech and they were all three taken back and given the shots they wanted. Daughters left giggling and mom left triumphant.
Listening to the whole thing unfold I really wanted to say a few choice things to that mother and her daughters. By refusing to take the mist that was being offered they just denied three people the shot, three people who because of a health compromise can not take the mist. The mother succeeded in teaching her daughters that being selfish is the way to go. The techs who gave in pretty much just proved they have a double standard going on. Pitch a fit loud enough and rules go out the window. It was certainly an interesting thing to watch. I held my tongue not seeing much point in getting into it with someone who could not think past her own selfish desires. That and the fact that being arrested was not on my to do list and was very likely to happen if I spoke up about my opinion to loudly. As you know I was already not in the best mood!
This morning was a little different. Dropping off Justice at Wee Wings a very distraught woman came over to the bus just sobbing. I know she works at the school but I am not exactly sure who she was. An emergency had come up and she was blocked in. The Wee Wings bus was in front of her vehicle and the line of parents dropping off their kids by car was behind it. The parents driving would not stop to let her back out! Of course the Wee Wings bus could not be moved but another mom and I decided traffic could be stopped. The Wee Wings teacher took Justice from me and the other mom and I marched around quickly to stop the line. With both of us walking out there they sure weren't going to hit us. The other mom put her hand up and stood in front of the one vehicle and I stayed closer to the woman's vehicle as she backed out and pointed out the opening for her to go through to get out of the parking lot. Of course those people in line could have stopped at the site of her getting in her car and putting on the reverse lights but they didn't, driving an already frazzled woman to tears as all she wanted was to get to wherever the emergency was. A minute of kindness would have saved all that trouble!
This is just my observations from the past two days. We are all selfish. We all have our reasons for being so. Our selfishness always affects others, usually people we do not know and more often then not it affects the people we do know. I have also noticed that people will often just give in to others selfishness compromising others in the process or falling into despair as the selfishness affects them directly.
Do we even think about how what we do affects those around us?
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