At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly
flew from somewhere and sat on a lady. She started screaming out of fear. With
a panic stricken face and trembling voice, she started jumping, with both her
hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach.
Her reaction was contagious, as everyone
in her group also got panicky.
The lady finally managed to push the
cockroach away but ...it landed on another lady in the group.
Now, it was the turn of the other lady
in the group to continue the drama.
The waiter rushed forward to their
rescue.
In the relay of throwing, the cockroach
next fell upon the waiter.
The waiter stood firm, composed himself
and observed the behaviour of the cockroach on his shirt.
When he was confident enough, he grabbed
it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant.
Sipping my coffee and watching the
amusement, the antenna of my mind picked up a few thoughts and started
wondering, was the cockroach responsible for their histrionic behaviour?
If so, then why was the waiter not
disturbed?
He handled it near to perfection,
without any chaos.
It is not the cockroach, but the
inability of the ladies to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach that disturbed
the ladies.
I realized that, it is not the shouting
of my father or my boss or my wife that disturbs me, but it's my inability to
handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs me.It's not the
traffic jams on the road that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the
disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs me.
More than the problem, it's my reaction
to the problem that creates chaos in my life.
Lessons
to learn from this story:
Understand the situation well, then respond, but do not always react.
The women reacted, whereas the waiter
responded.
Reactions are always instinctive whereas
responses are always well thought of, just and right to save a situation from
going out of hand, to avoid cracks in relationship, to avoid taking decisions
in anger, anxiety, stress or hurry.
