Garbage truck

The following is this week’s flush fact that is being put in my office washrooms and I was so impressed with it that I came back to my seat and the first thing that I did was, searched it on Google and found it easily. Whoever has written it has written it brilliantly.

Read it first.

How often do you let other people's nonsense change your mood? Do you let a bad driver, rude waiter, curt boss, or an insensitive employee ruin your day? Unless you're the Terminator, for an instant you're probably set back on your heels. However, the mark of a successful person is how quickly she can get back her focus on what's important.

Learned it in the back of a Harare City taxi cab. Here's what happened. I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Westgate. We were driving when all of a sudden a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car's back end by just inches! Here's what happened next. The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, whipped his head around and he started yelling bad words at us. How do I know? Ask any Zimbabwean, some words in Harare come with a special face.

Now, here's what blew me away. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was friendly. So, I said, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!" And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call, “The Law of the Garbage Truck." Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it. And if you let them, they'll dump it on you. When someone wants to dump on you, don't take it personal. You just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. You'll be happy you did. I guarantee it.

So this was it: The "Law of the Garbage Truck." I started thinking, how often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people: at work, at home, on the streets? It was that day I said, "I'm not going to do it anymore." I began to see garbage trucks. Like in the movie "The Sixth Sense," the little boy said, "I see Dead People." Well now "I see Garbage Trucks." I see the load they're carrying. I see them coming to drop it off. And like my Taxi Driver, I don't make it a personal thing; I just smile, wave, wish them well, and I move on.

You must be feeling why I am sharing this when it is readliy available on web. The reason being, this is one of those little things that happen with everyone every time after we wake up and before we go back to bed at night. And important thing is that it occurs effortlessly. I won’t say it is the Garbage truck who is on fault, but it is us who let it dump its garbage on us.

I know nobody wants it to happen then why does it happen? Have you ever thought why does it happen when we never want it to happen? The basic reason for this is that, we have forgotten our courtesy. We have stopped thinking about being courteous and polite to others. There is always something ghastly running within us. And the job of the garbage truck is to only ignite that dangerous hatred gasoline in our hearts.

To me loving people without expecting them to love you in return is what actual love is. And being lovable is the best trait to have. You just need to love everyone unconditionally. And true love, not just for the sake of it. Good manners, civility, graciousness, sociability are some of the adjectives that we should keep with us all the time.

I follow “Gandhigiri” and it really helps me reading the mind of others and understand their behaviour. Just try it once and you would love it.

Try it dear!!!

-NKJ