Who Does the World Revolve Around?

The Split Second-In Consideration of Others in These Trying Times-The World Revolves Around ????

I am now working on the formal proposal of my book, The Split Second:  In Consideration of Others or Look Up from the Phone and How to Deal with Rudeness in Others, and it looks like something may be happening out there.  Please wish me well. There is some momentum and that is good!

I write this blog after having stepped into a local convenience store as part of a gas service station.  A young man parked in front of me (I was on foot) as I walked in.  The parking space was handicapped space, and I could see no visible means of a license or placard indicating that the young man was handicapped. As he rushed to get inside the store ahead of everyone else and me, I could not see that he had any handicap.  Yes, it is entirely possible that one can be handicapped and now show it overtly. He raced to the counter and was told that he would need ID, so he raced out and the person in front of me was attended to by the clerk. Now it was my turn to buy my morning newspaper. However, the same young man rushed back into the store and up to the counter ahead of me with no “excuse me.”  He made his purchase of cigarettes and stepped back to exit out of the door. Before he was outside, he turned around and proceeded to walk back to the counter to ask questions.  With that act, the young lady behind me uttered “Hell no!” and left the store all together.

The Split Second suggests that being in a hurry is never excuse for rudeness. There are no excuses for rudeness according to Miss Manners but yes, we are all going to be rude from time to time. So, we should expect to apologize for that.  I find myself apologizing to people constantly. Making an apology is never a sign of weakness and I choose to find it an act of strength.

This young man was behaving like “the world revolved around him” and it seem almost as if he felt there were no other people around him.  If he did so, he did not seem to care how his self-centered actions affected others. It started with parking in the handicap space, and he went on as if the world should take care of his matters first before anyone else’s.  The Split Second maintains that one needs to take that split second, even if in a hurry, and think of the folks around you.  Always!