Beware of Garbage Trucks
By David J. Pollay
How often do you let other people’s nonsense change your mood? Do you
let a bad driver, rude waiter, curt boss, or an insensitive colleague
ruin your day? Unless you’re a robot, you are bound to blow your top
off. However, the mark of a sucessful person is how quickly he or she
can get back his or her focus on what’s important.
Sixteen years ago, I learned this lesson. I learn it in the back of a
New York City taxi cab. Here’s what happen.
I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We
were driving in the right lane when, all of a sudden, a black car
jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver
slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car’s back end by
just inches!
The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident,
whipped his head around and he started yelling bad words at us.
My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean he was
really friendly. So, I said, "Why did you do that? This guy almost
ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!"
And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now called, ‘The Law of
the Garbage Truck’.
Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage,
full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As
their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it. If they happen
to dump it on you, don’t take it personally.
You just smile, wave, wish them well, and moved on. You’ll be happier
if you did that rather than fight them.
So this was it: ‘The Law of the Garbage Truck’.
I started thinking, how often do I let garbage trucks run right over
me? And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other
people: at work, at home, on the street? It was that day I said, "I’m
not going to do it anymore." I see garbage trucks everywhere and
everyday. I see the load they’re carrying. I see them coming to drop
it off. And like my taxi driver, I don’t make it a personal thing; I
just smile, wave, wish them well, and I move on.
Good leaders know they have to be ready for their next meeting. Good
parents know they have to welcome their kids home from school with
hugs and kisses. Teachers and parents know that they have to be fully
present and at their best for the people they care about.
The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks
take over their day. What about you? What would happen in your life,
starting today, if you let more garbage trucks pass you by?
Here’s my bet. You’ll be happier.
So … love the people who treat you right.
Forget about the ones who don’t.
Believe that every thing happens for a reason.
If you get a chance, TAKE IT!
If it changes your life, LET IT!
Nobody said it would be easy ….
They just promised it would be WORTH IT
Cheers!
"Life is short. Enjoy the journey."
After reading the above, I can’t help but wonder how true his words are. There were so so many times when some inconsiderate, pathetic, selfish, crazy people who just comes along my way and create havoc or nuisance in my life…either temporary or otherwise.
Existence of such people makes me think of how this world seriously is in need of some ‘patients and tolerance’ potions/spells to "heal" those kind of people.
What rights do they have to make other people’s life filled with more hatred and less peaceful? Do they ever think not-only-of themselves and at least be more considerate coz they are not the only person living in this universe?
There were uncountable times when some drivers just cut the queue and skipped all the slow traffic just to get in front. And they sqeezed right in front of your car without even looking at the side mirror..thinking that they own the road. What kind of attitude is that? I can understand if they have a wife who’s about to give birth or a dying person in the car waiting to be fetched to the hospital…but otherwise, what in the world are they thinking that they can just zoom around cutting queue on the right or left whenever they like it?
Another time I was with a friend visiting another friend’s home in a condo. We were just dropping by for 5 minutes, so we just park at a nearby empty lot and hurried up to pass something to them. When we came down minutes later, a car was parked right behind us, not allowing us to move an inch. We waited patiently, for the owner to come move his car. While waiting we saw a man keep looking down from his balcony towards us. We did not horn but just kept waiting till about 20 minutes later, that same man looking from the balcony came down. He pretended to open the passenger door and take some stuff while still staring sharply at us, but not wanting to move his car. We then knew he was trying to be "funny". So we asked him to kindly shift his car and apologise if we had taken his lot. THEN, he started scolding and throwing tantrums like we have stolen ALL of his precious possessions. He ended with a sentence "I’m moving the car coz I pity you both only, or else you will be stucked here for long"
When I heard that, I almost wanted to release all my anger at him…punching/kicking him would be too violent but I really wanted to scream at him on how inconsiderate he can be. Such an old man who have gone through at least 65 years of life…to be acting in such a way..what a pity life you had!!!
Now reading back about the garbage truck, it made me realise, yea…such people are just garbage, throwing unwanted load at others, thinking only of themselves. I surely would not want to make these "garbage" spoil my days and my life. Of course it’s not gonna be easy to apply this ‘law of garbage truck’, but from now on I’m just going to take it easy, letting it go instead of annoying me.
To the people who continuously ‘prefers’ to make others’ life difficult, may you be well and happy, and may you realise what you are doing, as karma will ripe and catch you in this life, or worse still, in your next existence!!
