(Note: The following meditation was written by Karen York. Karen is a Vice President with Nashville's celebrated Alive Hospice organization.)
Never judge a book by its cover
We know the above adage all too well. In the journey
toward human decency, we’ve been taught not to exclude people based on the way
they look. The right thing is to look deeper into personality and heart. Within
the context of the Loving Care Movement, this is our mantra; this is how we are
supposed to live. We are to love others as brothers and sisters. We are to
understand and accept them just as they are in their journey.
I believe in this message so much that I am
the Mission Officer at my place of work. I wear a bracelet that says “Live Love”.
I don hearts on my necklaces and earrings, and proclaim the virtues of loving
service whenever I can. Yet, today I was
reminded of my own shortcomings. 
As I travel, I enjoy observing others, listening
to what is happening, imagining what brought them to the airport and why they
might be traveling to the same city. But, there
are always at least a few who speak so loudly on their cell phones or to their
neighbor that I cannot help but overhear.
Do I care that Lois didn’t turn in her report
on time and that the boss didn’t like it? Does it matter to me that the sales
pitch would have gone better if Bob had been more prepared? Am I the least bit
concerned that the hairdresser once again didn’t get the color and the cut just
right for the lady two seats away?
I admit that I am annoyed when I overhear too
many of these conversations. I wish people could speak more quietly and leave
me to my quest for quiet.
Sitting a row behind me were two gentlemen
having a rather loud conversation. In the spirit of trying to be funny, I wrote
the following e-mail to a colleague:
Luckily, I was in row 6 and he was in row 17.
On the flight I began reading The Secret and started to draw on the
positive energies in the Universe so good things would come my way. I found
many similarities between the principles of The Secret and Erie Chapman's book, Radical Loving
Care. As Erie always says, “where attention goes, energy flows.”
Fast forward ninety minutes. I’m at my
destination in baggage claim.
I looked eagerly for my bag, tied with red
and green ribbons for easy identification. Have you ever noticed that there are
always two or three bags that keep spinning around, no owner in sight, yet
there are thirty people waiting and waiting and waiting? Finally, I spot my bag descending the ramp into
the baggage carousel. The bag is upside down. The entire top was unzipped. To
my chagrin, all (repeat ALL) my stuff
was spilling out as it rapidly spun further and further away.
My trip is a training mission (on Loving
Care, I might add), so inside I had books, CD’s, toys and balls for tabletop
exercises, not to mention my unmentionables. I dropped everything, left my
purse and computer bag and raced to chase down my bloomers! Well guess who was
behind me. Guess who came to my aid. Enter “The Giggler.” The guy who before
was an annoyance now looks like a knight on a white steed. He saved my honor by
rescuing my personal items before they were strewn all around the carousel.
I was humbled and ashamed. Earlier I failed
to recognize him as anything other than someone who got on my nerves.
Why are we so quick to cast people away? In
our daily work, some patients and co-workers are bound to do something that
annoys us. Do we allow those annoyances to color our thinking about them and
stand in the way of seeing the soul underneath?
Based on the theory in The Secret, the law of
attraction brings to us what we think about, either positive or negative. I
can’t say if this was a case of cause and effect. I thought negatively about
him, and suffered a negative occurrence, and then a positive one.
Maybe I need more work on unleashing the
power of the universe by dwelling on the most powerful secret of all – to love
one another.
