by Rich DuBose
A retired Physical Education coach shared the following story that was sent to him by a friend.
"A woman was flying from Seattle to San Francisco. Unexpectedly, the plane was diverted to Sacramento along the way.
The flight attendant explained that there would be a delay, and if the passengers wanted to get off the aircraft, the plane would re-board in 50 minutes.
Everybody got off the plane except one lady who was blind.
A man had noticed her as he walked by and could tell the lady was blind because her guide dog lay quietly underneath the seats in front of her throughout the entire flight. He could also tell she had flown this very flight before because the pilot approached her, and calling her by name, said, ‘Kathy, we are in Sacramento for almost an hour, would you like to get off and stretch your legs?’
The blind lady said, ‘No thanks, but maybe Buddy would like to stretch his legs.’
All the people in the gate area came to a complete stand still when they looked up and saw the pilot walk off the plane with a guide dog for the blind! Even worse, the pilot was wearing sunglasses!
People scattered. They not only tried to change planes, but they were trying to change airlines!"
This perfectly illustrates the human condition. We are quick to draw conclusions with the information we have (which is often faulty or incomplete).
Life is teaching me that I need to be more observing than editorial, unless my goal is to create confusion and sow discord. Often I just need to shut up.
The best way to deal with partial knowledge is to either get the full scoop—if it’s any of my business, or bury it. Just give it a respectable funeral.
Rich DuBose writes from Northern California |
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