A Healthy Dose of Humility

On Thursday, the company where I’m working had their big Christmas luncheon. I skipped it for some priceless alone time with a working computer and silence. Ah, what I can accomplish in forty minutes without distraction.

Then-

They came back. My current co-workers started flooding in and my time came to an end.

Immediately, one of the women near me (the Keith Urban fanatic) started bitching about the food. There wasn’t enough of it. She didn’t get what she wanted. What she did get wasn’t very good. There wasn’t a thing about the experience she couldn’t complain about.

This complaining lasted all afternoon. I was getting truly annoyed. It was free food for Christ’s sake! What was there to complain about?

After she and another co-worker left for the day, it got considerably quieter (it always does when those two leave) and I could actually hear the radio that they have on to play Christmas music. It was on a PSA, reminding listeners that central Ohio’s food banks are extremely low on food and could really use contributions. This struck me as surreal, after an entire afternoon listening to someone complain about the free food that she could have paid for herself if she so chose.

There are times when I fall into this. I am prone to despair. Hopefully, I will remember to return to this post the next time I am struck by it.