Its All About How You React

My father is usually unaware of what is going on around him. Unfortunately, sometimes he disregards others because he honestly doesn't notice that they are there. For example, over winter break I had a doctor's appointment and my dad came with me. Twenty minutes late to the appointment, my dad barged through the waiting room doors, rushing up to the nurse at the front counter explaining why we were so late. My father failed to notice the three people standing in line, waiting to speak to the nurse. He just went on up and talked to the nurse as though he and her were the only people in the room. I watched the people in line react to my father. The woman first in line was shocked and annoyed, her eyes narrowing in on my father. The man behind her started to speak up, saying, "Hey, wait your turn!" My father did not hear him. However, the last woman in line calmly stod still and waited, not a bit of contempt shown on her face. I was quite surprised at her reaction.

Now, it may seem as though I do not respect my father here, but this isn't true. I love him very much. Yet, it is times like these when I want to tell him that he is being rude. However, I know he isn't doing this on purpose--my dad is honestly a kind and friendly man.  He isn't acting rude on purpose, he honestly just fails to notice those around him at times.

Looking back ath the woman who reacted in a mature way towards my father, I realize that she knew that even though she could not control the situation she was in, she did know that she controlled her reaction to it. She had mastered the art of reacting to difficult situations with a positive attitude. In the words of Forni: "Our happiness does not spring from the events of our lives but rather from how we choose to respond to those events." If we all incorporated a little more postive reacting to situations, I think that the world would be a much more civil place. It might be difficult, but it's definetly worth it because in the end--a day, a week, or a year later--you would be happy you did respond positively.