Isis The Enchantress on Hypnosis, & Other Things

There was a time I was working in NYC,
and we had an incredible storm. It
essentially shut everything down for
2 days.

I am reminded of this with news of
the blizzard in NYC and other places
in the northeast.

I share my memory because it is a
great example of "everything is
relative."

I lived in Queens at the time, and
my boss lived in Manhattan. He was
the type of boss - for various
reasons - I would never wish for
anyone.

Back to the point...

Within a day of the storm the NJ
Turnpike was plowed and open, and
people in NYC itself were able to
get around.

However, in places outside of NYC
things were a very different story.
It took a lot to get to work that
day, and I went as we didn't have
a snow plan, so as far as I knew
I was expected to be there.

As it turned out, I was the first
of our small office to arrive,
and I would have likely have been
the only one that day, if it
hadn't been for my boss (who was
on his way to our client in NJ)
telling me to tell all the others
to get into work (no easy feat given
the state of public transportation)
or they wouldn't be paid.

I had to be the messenger, and
believe me, it sucked.

The reason that my boss was so
adamant about everyone getting into
work was because he felt that there
was no reason they shouldn't be
there. In his experience, everything
was "fine." Plus, I was in the office,
so why couldn't everyone else be?

My commute was different than the
rest, so I probably had the easiest
time of our small group. But I had
some incredible snow mountains to
navigate on both sides of the subway
to get where I was going. I even
landed on my butt as I was going over
one of them. It was a dangerous trek.

I tried to tell him of some of the
issues, but he wasn't going to listen.
He had no issues, therefore no one
else should, either.

After the storm was over I showed him
pictures of what things looked like
outside of his world, but instead of
giving the situation we faced credence,
he was indifferent. After all, he
was "right" about his actions that day.

He never was one for entertaining ideas
that weren't his own, and his reality
was so far removed from those who
worked for him, it was difficult to
be his employee.

We all have our blind spots, and as
long as they work somehow, we don't
really need to see another's reality.
For some people it is when they cease
to work that there is an abrupt wake
up call.

It might be easier in general if we
were more mindful of another's situation
before it directly affected us.

Being mindful is more loving and
considerate. The other is more
reactionary, and often times is more
selfishly motivated as a result.

Of course we usually have the freedom
to go any way we want. Consider, though,
that you might just be taking better
care of yourself by taking care of (or
at least being mindful of) another.

People might like you a little more,
too. Not a bad side effect, if you
ask me. :P