a great lesson learned

It's 2:30AM. I am woken up by a smoke detector going off in one of my resident's rooms. I roll out of bed and sleepily go to see what has happened. There was no fire or danger, simply a misfunctioning of the detector. I still have to call the campus police so I do so. Ten minutes later I walk back to the room with the police officer who is swearing at the young man accusing him of smoking marijuana. I was taken back by the tone of her voice and the language she was using.

I was mad, really mad. What kind of person is she? "I can't stand her", I thought to myself.

The next day I called the Chief of Police and told him about what had happened. He explained that maybe she was having an off day or something and that he would talk to her about what had happened. "Yeah, okay-- she's obviously just not a nice person," echoed in my head.

Fast forward a couple of months.

I'm in the office on duty and she is here visiting on her rounds. She is talking to the other RA on duty and then invites me into the conversation. She gets to talking about a trip she took to Russia and later I shared my stories from Panama. We laugh and talked for quite a while. She leaves having asked me if I would be available to house sit on occasion because she thinks that I am a responsible and trustworthy person.

She comes back tonight and we get to talking again. This time she asks about my trip to New Orleans this spring break. Then she tells me she would like to help me fund the trip! We talk for awhile more and she leaves for the night.

What a lesson in not judging someone by how they act on on occasion. Perhaps she was having an awful day. Maybe she was completely out of character.

How many times have I acted out of character? I wonder how many people have judged me because of those times and have negative attitudes of me now. This was a lesson times two.

1. A great reminder not to judge others. Ask questions, forgive and continue to pursue the person to get to know them.
2. Be careful how I act because some people may catch me on a "bad day" when I am not acting "up to par" so to speak and have a negative view of me from there on out.

These kinds of moments are the greatest teacher's in my life.