Overheard at McDonald's checkout this morning - part of a conversation between a mom and her 4-year-old daughter:
Would you like pancakes?
No.
Would you like a muffin?
No.
Would you like eggs and sausage and toast?
No.
Well what do you want?
I dunno.
(shrugs in resignation...) Just look at the pictures and tell me what you want.
That one! (pointing to the breakfast burrito with red and green peppers)
That one????
Yeah! Cookies with Smarties!
Uhhhh....honey.... that's not a cookie and those aren't Smarties... it's a really thin wrap with egg, and green and red peppers inside.
AwWWh!! I HATE green peppers!!
So what do you want?
(big sigh) Pancakes I guess.
Appearances can certainly be deceiving, and when something turns out to not be what you expected, well!!
Life is full of expectations and disappointments like that. It's especially disheartening when the real thing doesn't even come close to living up to the brochure.
Marketing focuses on the hype; many times folks end up at the returns desk asking for a refund or an exchange. It's that way in the business world and it is that way in other areas as well, including relationships, volunteer groups, church, and work or career. The disappointment can be devastating. What's worse, something dies inside when we feel we must resign ourselves to the status quo.
The thing is, that is always the risk when it comes to anything involving human beings because we all make mistakes. ALL the time. (Wow that sounds like such a cop-out.) The trick is - for the people "advertising" - to be realistic about the pros and cons of a particular action or lifestyle. And for the people who are the targets of such advertising, it's important to ask intelligent questions instead of assuming people have the right motives.
Far too many times I've seen people rhapsodize about a particular thing (let's say church or Christianity - which is not the same thing, but I digress) while minimizing the in-fighting and the being-taken-for-granted stuff that goes on with annoying regularity, not to mention that whole judgment thing if you don't agree 100% with each other. Of course it is never going to be perfect; if looking for perfection then humanity is not the best place to focus!!
What I've found gives me balance is not focusing so much on what others are doing and instead checking my attitude. I always lived my life having people do things "to" me. My focus was always on (see another post I did a few months ago) whether they were throwing their ball in such a way as to hit my bat (and getting angry when they didn't). So what I had to do was work on my batting skills - and get rid of some old preconceived notions of where the bases were. Coming from a dysfunctional /abusive home, the boundaries are really fuzzy, there are a lot of in-team rivalries, and it takes a while to learn how to (as one friend put it) "behave indoors" as an adult.
Since going through that healing process, I'm learning that it's okay to ask questions about the nature of what has always been touted as the accepted / traditional thing to do or think. "Why?" is a good question in that context. Living life from the inside out - being honest, open, and willing - forces me to live outside my comfort zone in many respects. Certain things have always been true and remain true ... but the next time I hear something or see something that sounds or looks like "Cookies with Smarties", I had better beware. I'm not denying that miracles happen or that sometimes life does serve sundaes instead of sauerkraut (apologies to those who like sauerkraut)... it's just that a lot of the time, it doesn't.
If it sounds too good to be true ... it probably is.
Would you like pancakes?
No.
Would you like a muffin?
No.
Would you like eggs and sausage and toast?
No.
Well what do you want?
I dunno.
(shrugs in resignation...) Just look at the pictures and tell me what you want.
That one! (pointing to the breakfast burrito with red and green peppers)
That one????
Yeah! Cookies with Smarties!
Uhhhh....honey.... that's not a cookie and those aren't Smarties... it's a really thin wrap with egg, and green and red peppers inside.
AwWWh!! I HATE green peppers!!
So what do you want?
(big sigh) Pancakes I guess.
 |
| Found through Google Images at : http://recipelist.blogspot.com/2008/06/mcdonalds-breakfast-burritos.html |
Life is full of expectations and disappointments like that. It's especially disheartening when the real thing doesn't even come close to living up to the brochure.
Marketing focuses on the hype; many times folks end up at the returns desk asking for a refund or an exchange. It's that way in the business world and it is that way in other areas as well, including relationships, volunteer groups, church, and work or career. The disappointment can be devastating. What's worse, something dies inside when we feel we must resign ourselves to the status quo.
The thing is, that is always the risk when it comes to anything involving human beings because we all make mistakes. ALL the time. (Wow that sounds like such a cop-out.) The trick is - for the people "advertising" - to be realistic about the pros and cons of a particular action or lifestyle. And for the people who are the targets of such advertising, it's important to ask intelligent questions instead of assuming people have the right motives.
Far too many times I've seen people rhapsodize about a particular thing (let's say church or Christianity - which is not the same thing, but I digress) while minimizing the in-fighting and the being-taken-for-granted stuff that goes on with annoying regularity, not to mention that whole judgment thing if you don't agree 100% with each other. Of course it is never going to be perfect; if looking for perfection then humanity is not the best place to focus!!
What I've found gives me balance is not focusing so much on what others are doing and instead checking my attitude. I always lived my life having people do things "to" me. My focus was always on (see another post I did a few months ago) whether they were throwing their ball in such a way as to hit my bat (and getting angry when they didn't). So what I had to do was work on my batting skills - and get rid of some old preconceived notions of where the bases were. Coming from a dysfunctional /abusive home, the boundaries are really fuzzy, there are a lot of in-team rivalries, and it takes a while to learn how to (as one friend put it) "behave indoors" as an adult.
Since going through that healing process, I'm learning that it's okay to ask questions about the nature of what has always been touted as the accepted / traditional thing to do or think. "Why?" is a good question in that context. Living life from the inside out - being honest, open, and willing - forces me to live outside my comfort zone in many respects. Certain things have always been true and remain true ... but the next time I hear something or see something that sounds or looks like "Cookies with Smarties", I had better beware. I'm not denying that miracles happen or that sometimes life does serve sundaes instead of sauerkraut (apologies to those who like sauerkraut)... it's just that a lot of the time, it doesn't.
If it sounds too good to be true ... it probably is.
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