Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi

True story….

Yesterday my wife and I were doing some last minute shopping (hoping to convince our yet-unborn baby that it was time to be born) and it happened. An elderly man, driving one of those little scooters through the grocery store) slammed on his brakes in front of us, causing us to stop, the couple behind us to stop, etc.

There was no way to go around him; the only option was to stand there and wait for him to move forward, so, we waited. Within a half a second (literally!) the woman behind me turns to her boyfriend/husband/?? and exclaims in her most disgusted voice… “well! I don’t know why he doesn’t just go around him.” (The first he, was me…the him, was the old man.)

Obviously, there was no way around the scooter-driving man, but he quickly started moving again and we all got on our way. As an afterthought I turned to my wife and proclaimed: “oh, how rude!” (referring to the angry young women behind me.” At which point, she (the woman behind me) turned to me and explained herself by saying, in her most condescending tone (hoping to put me in my place) “I’m pregnant!”

Apparently, “I’m pregnant” was supposed to explain not only why she was so rude, but also why I was so inconsiderate to think her rudeness was inappropriate. Of course, I turned back, and quipped (while thrusting my thumb at my wife who was 1 day short of our anticipated delivery date) “so is she.”

As I’ve thought about that, I’ve made several observations:
1) Some people will use any excuse they can think of to justify the fact that they think the world revolves around them (i.e. the woman behind me).
2) Some people are apparently stupid for not recognizing that everyone else in the world is more important than they are (i.e. me), and
3) My wife, despite being well over 9 months pregnant at this point, has never been the menace to society that apparently some of her compatriots are.

It’s observations 1 and 3 that stick out. We are a society of entitled individuals. This holiday season has proven that to me more blatantly than almost any other time in my life (the only exception was the ice cream shop in Rome - a story for a different day.) Where do we get off thinking the world revolves around us.

Disturbing.

Grace and Peace,
`tim

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