My friends Dave and Carolyn sent me the following, adapted it to our specific locale, and I thought it was great. I wanted to pass it along to you. (The original work is from David J. Pollay. They tweaked it to relate to us.)
"One day we were riding with a friend on Highway 278, heading to the Island. We were driving in the right lane, when suddenly, a black car jumped out of a side road right in front of us. My friend slammed on the brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches!
The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us! My friend just smiled and waved at the guy. I mean, he was really friendly.
So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us all to the hospital." This is when my friend taught me what I now call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck."
He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage: full of anger, full of frustration, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you.
Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, say a prayer for them and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day.
Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so love the people who treat you right and forgive and love the ones who don't. We're not always responsible for everything that happens to us, but we are responsible for how we react to what happens. Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it."
Get out there on 278 - or whatever similar road you drive on where you live - and have a garbage- free day!
You can read more about this at David J. Pollay's website HERE.
