A State of Balance (10/21/14)
Do you ever wonder why opposites attract? I was asking myself that question while I was eating lunch at a McDonald’s in Detroit. I was grabbing a quick bite to eat after spending an afternoon with the Skillmaster Toastmaster Club when I met Michael.
“Excuse me sir. I don’t mean to bother you, but I was wondering if you could help me get something to eat?”
Michael was confined to a wheelchair because he was missing both of his legs. Hanging from the back of his wheelchair was a collection of medical bag with tubes of fluid that were pumping who knows what into Michael. I don’t know if I walked up to the counter to get Michael something to eat because I felt sorry for him, or because if I found myself in a similar situation I would hope a stranger would do the same for me.
“Here’s your cup, and you’re number 190.”
“Can you get me a coke?”
So I handed Michael his ticket, and walked over to get him a Coke. The fountain was a little high, and would have been awkward for him to fill the glass so I thought sure why not. I walked back with Micheal’s Coke, and as soon as I picked up my sandwich to finally take a bite order 190 was called.
“Hey they just called the number….”
I went and picked up Micheal’s lunch that I paid for, delivered it to him, and finally got to sit down and eat my now cold food. I spent a lot of time reflecting on that interaction with Micheal. Was he born with a birth defect, and had he learned how to use his condition to manipulate people? Did he loses his legs as a result of an accident, and was he suffering from depression as a result? I don’t know Micheal’s story, but he sure plays the role of a victim exceptionally well. Micheal easily could have rolled himself up to the counter to pick up his own food. He also could have made an attempt to fill his own drink. However, instead of even trying Micheal played the pity card to get someone else do everything for him at every opportunity. He went so far as to get another patron to push him down the street once he was done eating.
I think what bothered me most about my experience with Micheal was how diametrically opposed he was to the members of Skillmasters. The members of that club had everything working against them. They had to cram the equivalent of an hour to an hour and a half meeting into a forty five minute time frame because their members are on a very strict work schedule. However, those members see and create so much value in the time that they have together that they find a way to make the meeting work. It would be easy for them to just say this is to tough to do, and walk away.
It may appear that I’m comparing apples to oranges, but I don’t see it that way. Are they different scenarios? Absolutely, but they are both scenarios of attitude and character confronted by adversity. Micheal represented the glass half empty, and the Skillmasters represented the glass half full. I think life was letting me see how the Universe maintains balance. Like magnets, for every negative there is a balancing positive. So when opposites attract it’s nothing more than the Universe trying to maintain a constant state of balance.
