March Slice of Life No. 24.
“Begin challenging your own assumptions.
Your assumptions are your windows on the world.
Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won’t come in.”
– Alan Alda
Several years ago my redheaded daughter-in-law shared “The Cookie Thief” with me. This week, I stumbled across the copy I had kept, and as I read, I smiled at the irony, I chuckled because airport stories are a big part of my life, and I felt the pang of its truth and wondered, Have I been guilty of eating another person’s cookies?
The Cookie Thief
by Valerie Cox
At an airport one night
With several long hours
Before her flight.
She hunted for a book
In an airport shop,
Bought a bag of cookies
And found a place to drop.
She was engrossed in her book
But happened to see,
That the man sitting beside her
As bold as could be,
Grabbed a cookie or two
From the bag in between,
Which she tried to ignore
To avoid a scene.
So she munched the cookies
And watched the clock,
As the gutsy cookie thief
Diminished her stock.
She was getting more irritated
As the minutes ticked by,
Thinking, “If I wasn’t so nice,
I would blacken his eye.”
With each cookie she took,
He took one too,
When only one was left,
She wondered what he would do.
With a smile on his face,
And a nervous laugh,
He took the last cookie
And broke it in half.
He offered her half,
As he ate the other,
She snatched it from him
And thought… Oh, brother!
This guy had some nerve
And he’s also rude,
Why he didn’t even show
Any gratitude!
She had never known
When she’d been so galled,
And sighed with relief
When her flight was called.
She gathered her belongings
And headed to the gate,
Refusing to look back
At the thieving ingrate.
She boarded the plane,
And sank in her seat,
Then she sought her book,
Which was almost complete.
As she reached in her baggage,
She gasped with surprise,
There was her bag of cookies,
In front of her eyes.
If mine are here,
She moaned in despair,
The others were his,
And he tried to share.
Too late to apologize,
She realized with grief,
That she was the rude one,
The ingrate, the thief!
Source: Chicken Soup for the Soul, (c) 1996 by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen
Take-away truisms
- Most people actually have a good reason to do the things they do.
- Things are not always as they appear.
- Everyone chooses his/her own response.
Applied to my life
May I not be guilty of thinking
I know for certain that something is a
certain way, lest I discover that
what I believe
to be
is not.
Head over to
http://twowritingteachers.org
for more slice of life stories.
#SOL18
So wonderful to recognize assumptions and let them go… and sometimes so hard because we don’t even realize they are there! That’s the work 🙂
The format was wonderful short set up. Poem, then take away application. I can see a lot of uses for adult learners.
After I read your comment, I looked at the post through a new lens and I think you are right on. Please feel free to use it.
I like the way you’ve so succinctly captured your take-aways and then created a poem souvenir, so to speak, of those same lessons. The format is a model lesson in concision!
I hadn’t thought of it as a model lesson. Thank you for sharing that,
We are all guilty of assuming even though we know what “assume” means. I really like your beginning quote from Alan Alda. Cleaning off those windows to let the light in can change out perspective,
Our “windows” do get that grimy film on them sometimes.
I remember reading this poem not so long ago! We were just talking about assumptions at work yesterday. They were in the larger topic of communication (or lack thereof); this poem is a prime example of how just a few spoken (kind) words would have fixed this situation immediately. Love your prayer-like last lines.
Yes, the root is communication, and I fear that fewer words are being spoken now than ever.
I’ve read this story before, and it always makes me laugh. I could absolutely be the unwitting cookie thief! That said, I really appreciate your take-aways: “Most people actually have a good reason to do the things they do. Things are not always as they appear. Everyone chooses his/her own response.” I’ve never thought about this story in quite this way – and yet these truisms, particularly the first one, are things I repeat over and over at my workplace – to teachers, to students, to myself. And the last one is something that I tell myself all the time. Thanks for adding depth to a story I thought I knew.
Thank you, Amanda.
So very true and so well put! We are all guilty of and so embarrassed by those assumptions…in airports or anywhere!!
Thank you for sharing. 😉
Wonderful 🙂 Yes, it is not good to assume, but we do many a time. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for stopping by today 🙂