I take full responsibility for my actions, but just couldn’t stop myself.  My thought bubble burst wide open and everything just spewed out all over the entire scene.

It all started this morning when I stopped at the local coffee house for an extra cup of sanity on my way to drop off the gratitude goodies feverishly baked yesterday.  Placing my order and minding my own business, the conversation behind the counter turned on me.  I was absolutely determined to get my hot drink, my weekly bag of fresh roasted beans, and leave; no further interaction or comment required (other than, “thank you; see you next week”). Really. Just be quiet, smile, and leave with my items.

• Adult #1:  So, what do you think of all the fake media hype and election outcomes, Beth?
• Me: (smiling and pondering my response; perhaps if we took more time to really ponder, words would never hurt us?)
• Adult #2:  Being from out-of-state, she’s probably a bleeding liberal anyway…
• Adult #1:  Absolutely not; she’s a retired educator so she’s highly trained in choosing her words carefully to safely keep neutral. Look, she’s choosing them now!
  
• Adult #3:  You know she’s a red-head, right?  Don’t mess with a red-head and then expect calm.
• Me:  (with my sweetest smile and blue eyes burning) While I will not favor you with my political views, I will calmly remind you, as hopefully your mommas did while you were growing up, to THINK before you speak.  Is what you say TRUE?  Is it HELPFUL?  Does it INSPIRE?  Is it NECESSARY? – and – this is my personal favorite, Is it KIND? Just THINK; fire up those dendrites in your brain and try it sometime…and I sincerely hope you have a fabulous Friday (as I exit the shop).

Now, I’m not proud of taking their bait, yet I’m grateful the public platform to  kindly (if not so gently) remind others to THINK was blatantly given to me in an extraordinary way. Heaven only knows what happened after my exit… and St. M is now gonna need to get the bags of roasted beans for a while.

So today, I’m truly grateful for the ability to THINK (and still THINK fast on my aging feet after pondering).

Day #27:  What would happen if we all just gratefully took a little more time to THINK?

As my Granny B often reminded me, “It is easier and faster to go down the hill and take the shorter route than climb up the long and more thoughtful way, but the view is so much better from the top.”   Staying on “top” of our words is an important lesson in life; perhaps we all need a group time-out in order to just THINK. 🙂