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Wednesday, October 14, 2015

The Trouble With Rants

So this morning in an "I-Hate-this-endless-summer-heat-and-it-will-never-get-cooler tantrum" I struck out on Facebook at the 6 eighteen wheelers parked next to my house ready to scoop up dirt. The project next to my house has taken over a year and the dust and noise pushed me to my limit. I was looking to make everyone else feel as badly as I did.

So I took a picture and put it on Facebook....along with a rant about how put out I was.

The responses from my friends humbled me to my bones.

I have wonderful, gracious, intelligent friends.

One of my friends recently had a crane fall on her house, destroying most of it. They are 40 days into repairing it. She mentioned it would be wonderful to have trucks and noise be the only things to worry about.

One reminded me of the school they built next to her, not only did she have the construction, but the traffic ever since.

Another friend reminded me I have approved countless projects that have brought the same kind of construction near their homes.

Another friend reminded me of all the workers and truck drivers working on this project who have families they are supporting. They probably wouldn't be happy they have disrupted our lives either. He said I should take cookies to them.

And then one rogue friend sent a picture from Maui of an amazing view, green hills, ocean, and then in an offhand way remarking that was what she had to look at each morning. I did say my friends were intelligent...living in Maui is a pretty smart thing to do.

Another friend agreed change was hard....

Here is the truth...no one wants to listen to a rant...unless it is a funny, tongue in cheek rant that is directed at yourself. That's comedy. Facebook and Instagram is supposed to entertain...my post was a root canal of words. Not helpful at all.

It is so embarrassing to react that way....I could have been so....Zen. But I made a whole different choice. I am that crotchety old man yelling at the kids to get off his lawn, the neighbor who won't give your kids balls back that go over  the fence.

In short, today would have a great day for "a little less human reaction" to kick in.

Tomorrow's another day?

I hope so...