We live with and in an existence of levels. Degrees and standards. Take standards of living perhaps? What kind of junk are you willing to put up with? How much trash is too much? Does it need to function? Does it need to look good? What is important to you??
Some people have a list of things they can't live without. Running, reading, friends, hardwood flooring. The things you love. The things that make life easier. Those things will be different for everyone. But what if you have to live someone else's standard? What if you find yourself stuck on a different level? Yes, it is livable. We could all survive in Africa if given food and water, but would we want to? How long would that last before we would all be running to the nearest airport and the nearest Tucano's?
And then I wonder if there are some people who don't believe in levels. People who think that their level is the only level there is to choose from. It must be like living on the first floor of a skyscraper only to believe you live in a one story with no basement...right along with EVERYBODY ELSE.
Too bad, the view from the roof is amazing.
And by the way, you can only be late once. But just how late do you really want to be anyway?
2 comments:
I used to (and still do but am working on it) feel as you do on the late thing but since getting sick have realized that some things aren't worth getting upset and worked up about. I've had to sit back and let a lot of things that used to bother me go and just say, "it isn't a big deal........".
It's about being curteous though and respecting others. Letting others know that their time is valuable too and you aren't more important by stepping on their time and being late.
Living in a one story building when we are not is self centered. We think the world revolves around us and it is the same with being late. Now, that said. Things come up. We have kids.....we do the best we can.
We all have different levels. That is okay, but we need to respect others levels and what may be upsetting to them. It may not be upsetting to us....but it is that respect thing. If you know being late isn't going to bother so and so.....don't stress but if you know Gertie likes to be on time places then try to be ontime for her!
Make sense??? And as for Africa......or Arizona.......It's temporary. Anyone can withstand most anything if they know it is temporary and things are going to get better.
I keep telling myself that with this West Nile. It's just temporary. Even if it lasts for the rest of my earth life.....it's just temporary. Next life it will be GONE!!! Wahooooo!
As I read, I'm thinking a bunch of things. I'm not a late person either. I have a sister-in-law, and really also a sister, neither of whom show the respect that Rachel talks about. They are involved in what they're involved in, and if that means you sit around for forty five minutes on hold till they get to the rendezvous, then - well, no skin off their teeth (I've left my tooth skin by that time on the furniture, lucky for them).
But late to some things? I have actually timed it so that, back when I was in the primary pres and we had all those inservice things? Time it so that I was late enough to miss the singing, the greeting, the philosophical thought, the musical number and the poem. (Hair standing on end.) These things I also see as a breach of respect, though other people see them as "nice" and "preparatory". When I run a meeting, I cut to the chase, get the word out and get out of there. So I am not obligated to be on time, in my own mind, in some circumstances.
But when someone is depending on me - if only for their escape, temporary as it may be - I am NEVER late. And when men are late like that, I see it as self-centered, disrespectful, unkind and insensitive. How's that?
The other things I'm thinking about are the levels: I think mine are migratory. When we go camping, I adapt pretty quickly to the environment and don't do a lot of thinking about home or toilets (which are very important to me). In some ways, when I get plunked into different environments, I just change and become part of them. What I have, I have. What i see, I see. I find new ways of function - work-arounds, and just get used to them.
It's different if I am in my own environment, but it's crippled in some way - a person missing, the plumbing down, the computer non-functional. Then it's like living with a cast on my arm. And I don't get over it ever, till things are restored to normal.
I think the most important thing to me is having people I love and can function with. If we have to walk back to Missouri some day, I'll just do it, and love the sky, and hope I picked the right shoes - as long as I have people around me I love, I can be myself. If I don't, I go silent.
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