Voice what you feel—words have power.
Photo: S J Pinkney via Flick
There is a dear column in The New York Times that appears in the New York section on Mondays called Metropolitan Diary. In it, they print wonderful stories by ordinary folk who experience the delicious Big Apple in ways unlike any other place on Earth.
This one appeared the Monday after American Thanksgiving this year:
Dear Diary:
It was late afternoon in Union Square, and I had one more meeting in Midtown before I needed to catch my evening flight back to Los Angeles. The air was thick and the sky threatening, and just as I assumed I’d never find a cab to Midtown, a Town Car pulled up and the driver beckoned.
“Where are you going?” he asked, and I replied, “Straight uptown to 56th and Madison.” We engaged in a brief negotiation (he asked for $20, I offered $10, you know the rest) and we were off. As we neared the Park Avenue tunnel, he began muttering about the United Nations, and it became evident that the source of the massive traffic build-up was the heavy security around the United Nations.
He continued to mutter about how much he disliked the U.N., and that “all this traffic was just the result of some two-bit dictator.” As the gridlock tightened, we finally ground to a halt, surrounded by trucks, police officers and pedestrians. His agitation increased until he finally blurted out, “I hate world peace!”
I miss New York.
Robert Kraft
I consider this story a teaching moment.
Did the driver really hate world peace? It is what he said.
Of course, he didn’t, but he also didn’t acknowledge what was really bothering him. This happens often with humans. We are afraid to feel our negative feelings so we assign them to, say, gridlocked traffic, instead of interior gridlock.
What was really frustrating this man is that we live in a world where fear is so strong that alleged security is valued over peace.
Words have power, dear one. And not just this cabbie’s words, but yours and mine as well.
Say it with me: I love world peace.
By Susan Corso | For spiritual nourishment please visit, www.susancorso.com
