Thursday, October 4, 2012

The Dirty Truth

What do I dislike about housework? I’d say it’s the repetition. If the kitchen looks clean and the floor sparkles, turn your back to clean something else and within moments you’ll have a water-plashed sink and crumb-covered floors.  We should put a moratorium on our house. I’ll clean it from top to bottom and we’ll live elsewhere for several days. If you see the trees draped with yellow caution tape and a sign stuck to the front door that says: Just Cleaned! – Do Not Enter,  you’ll know what happened.

Not long ago my dear child watched as I emptied the dishwasher for what felt like the fiftieth time that day. My heart-warming moment came when I heard the precious words every mother longs to hear. I translated it as, “Mom, you’re so wonderful and I’m so grateful for all the hard work you do in our home.” In fact, the actual words were, “I feel bad for you.” I’ll accept that. Face it, we love to put our own spin on situations. Look at what happened in Texas:


                                       http://youtu.be/emPPKjyU_NI
The sign hackers thought their prank was funny, but local officials saw it as a public hazard.  It’s amazing how people can experience identical circumstances and arrive at totally different conclusions. For instance, consider the anchorwoman who responded on air to an email that criticized her appearance. When viewers commented, one person applauded
(yes!) the anchorwoman’s response, while another person called it “whiny.” What surprising comments have you heard in response to seemingly harmless statements or situations?    

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think it is a matter of perspective and, for the most, I would argue that most of us (if not all) have said something or performed and action that we thought was "ok" and other did not. What I've found is unless there is truly malicious intent, the best way to reconcile what we think is "ok" and others may not is to simply ... pause before moving forward.

Bethanie said...

Hmmm. Pause, lace up their sneakers and walk awhile in them.