Stories
Your Experiences
This web page is devoted to sharing experiences of personal transformation through practicing small acts of transformation. Many of these stories reveal how actions in behalf of others resulted in mutual benefit to both individuals. Please use them as an inspiration for your own life and an inspiration for you to contribute.
You Never Know
This is about an interaction with a coworker I had.
She was relatively new with the company. So nobody really knew her and my main interaction was by passing her in the hallway, say hello and move on. One day she put some work on my desk. I tried to help but in order to do so I needed additional information from her side.
So I went back to her and explained what I needed. She said she’ll get back to me. Two days later I had the same documents on my desk again without additional information. So I wrote an e-mail, explaining again what I need and put the paperwork back on her desk.
Two days later I again found the papers on my desk with an e-mail from her saying “If you need anything you need to come and find me.” My only thought was “Excuse me….who do you think you are?”
In that moment I could have fired a mean e-mail back or storm to her desk and bitch at her. I decided to take a walk to cool off and shortly before I left work I sent an e-mail saying “No problem, I’ll find you tomorrow morning”.
The next day she wasn’t in. The reason: her husband had passed the night before.
You never know what’s going on in other people’s lives so always be careful with what you are doing or saying. It could hurt them more than you are aware of.
Sandra Immoor
Unspoken Acts
When a plane lands there is a collective agreement among the passengers that those in the row ahead of you deplane first. Unless, of course, the plane arrived late and the flight attendant has asked everyone to remain seated to allow connecting passengers to leave first. This was not the case the other day. We had arrived on time and the flight attendant had given no special instructions. All rows were deplaning one at a time and I stood in the aisle with my bag waiting my turn. Behind me I heard a man tell his son they couldn’t move until the guy – me – got out of their way. When there were about three rows left ahead of us, the father said to me, “Hey, if you’re not going to move, can my son and I get off?” He sounded irritated which made me irritated. I said, “Well, there are still several rows ahead of us.” He ignored that comment and just said he had to catch another plane and pushed on ahead of me and the other rows. At that moment had I said the words that were forming in my head I would have done nothing but embarrass him in front of his son and myself for being a shallow jerk. Instead, as he pushed ahead, I said, “Good luck, hope you make it.” It was hard to push all my offended emotions down and say something positive and I thought that sometimes small acts of transformation can manifest in what we don’t do or say.
Phil Davis
Next Steps...
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