A Chance Encounter

Every person in a company has a purpose, a sort of role they play much like a role we all play in an ecosystem. Mine is that of a vulture.

I have the unerring ability to find and discover leftover or available food and ensure that it does not go to waste - so much so, in fact, that my coworkers have taken to openly commenting on my ability to locate and engage in such feasts.

It was at one of such events - the tragic death of a leftover lunch we were remembering by eating it- that I was breaking off pieces of a cookie to prevent it from escaping off the plate when I suddenly saw Fear Beag marching by, obviously intent on going somewhere. This is not the building we are stationed in, so I peeled off and grabbed his attention.

"What's up?" I asked around the cookie crumbs.

He then poured out a tale of short deadlines and unreasonable management and the fact that, once again, we were being treated like gophers. "I'm on my way to give the individual a piece of my mind" he said.

Knowing that none of us really has enough mind to afford to lose pieces of, I started with "Let's think about it for a minute." We talked through the situation as we turned around and slowly walked back across the parking lot. We came up with another solution - a solution which would (hopefully) fix larger problems. By the time we got back to the office, things were normal and I was already trying to figure if it was worth the effort to go back and see if there was another cookie left.

I don't write this story in praise of my ability to talk someone off the ledge - Fear Beag and Fear Mor have done the same thing for me more times than I can count when I've gone off armed with a verbal sword in my hand, ready to hack someone's spirit. I write it because it seems to me to be a reminder of two things:

1) As individuals, how aware are we of what is going around us? Are we sensitive enough to those who are near us to see when they are angry or tired or hurting? Even when we are in a crowd, do we monitor them as well - or are we only concerned about ourselves and how we are doing?

Do we have the level of comfort with our friends - with ourselves - to pull them aside and listen and say "Let's think about this a minute?" Do we make the effort to find another way? Or is it not our problem, so it doesn't matter?

2) As individuals, can we listen to those who speak? When someone - not just anyone, but someone that we know and trust - counsels us, do we listen? Or are we so intent on our own vindication and satisfaction that such advice is ignored? (I write this as someone who is blessed by the number of friends I have who give me such advice. Would that I took it more.)

Sometimes the difference between failure and success is catching someone out of the corner of our eye as we eat a cookie and deciding that they outweigh the cookie.