To Respond is Positive, To React is Negative

One Friday morning, a lady stood in front of my vehicle and started screaming, shouting, cursing and “barking”. I don’t know why I was suddenly attacked and just remained calm to collect my thoughts on what happened. I gave a neutral gesture and spoke soft words to avoid getting sucked in an argument. She was expecting me to shout back and argue but I politely refused to talk to her while raising my hands as a sign of “ceasefire”.

I walked away, apologized and left immediately. On my way home, I realized she was attacking and provoking me because of her WRONG interpretation of the warnings I shared to her neighbor. She insisted I said this, I said that etc. and clearly the message she claims to believe is misinterpreted and misrepresented. Clearly its a miscommunication.

Sharing my lessons on that encounter:

1. It is important to verify your source of information first. At least hear it with your own ears and see it with your own eyes before you react and act. Attacking someone with wrong information and no basis puts you in jeopardy. You will be humiliated in the end.

2. Being emotionally blind is not a reason to shout or get mad at someone. We have NO RIGHT to belittle, attack, curse, threat or even disrespect a person. Being furious and disrespectful only reveals your true self, reputation and moral values.

3. Refuse to be in “beast-mode”. I was tempted to be like Hulk but it will only make things worse. Like I said above, practice being calm and you will not lose yourself. It is alright to walk away and lose an argument. Sometimes, when you talk to a fool your best reply is silence.

Let me leave you something I picked up from Zig Ziglar:

“To respond is positive, to react is negative.”

That’s my share for tonight and I hope we apply the lessons I shared. Thanks for reading.