Today on an international flight from the US to the UK, I did something a bit out of character. I was rude to this stranger, not outright rude but not outright nice. She therefore mistook this as rudenesss. I made it to my flight with 30 minutes to spare, as my connecting flight was delayed. I arrived at my seat,Sweating from running throughout the airport only to find someone at my seat. The seat stealer wanted a whole row to herself. As soon as I entered, she looked for another seat.
I escaped to the bathroom and found a family of four surrounded my space. They asked me to move so I wouldn’t have to be by a big family who kept passing things over me. The husband to the right of me, next aisle kept saying to his wife “are you going to ask?” After several minutes of this, I moved to the row behind me without saying a word or looking at any of them in the face. She asked if I was moving, I said “yes,” and then proceeded to say to my husband and children how unkind I was. She knew I could hear her. I truly wanted to verbally lash some offensive phrases to her. But I held my tongue, and put on my headphones . I drowned them out, I didn’t want to make it a more miserable long flight than necessary.
I began to think, how unlike me this is. For someone who tries to relay the message of kindness being contagious, what was I expressing now? I never apologised but I was able to try to continue to convey kindness to others thought it the rest of the flight.
Despite our constant work in trying to “be good,” we aren’t perfect. We have off days. Who knows what contributed to this ? The delayed connecting flight , running throughout an unfamiliar airport, someone already being in my seat, fear of missing my flight. Perhaps it was a combo of everything .
When we have these days, it’s a time to reflect what’s going on internally . Hopefully we can pause before responding , and carry on. That moment doesn’t have to define us.
It Only Takes A Smile 