THAT THING I SAW

That thing I saw.
That blandly hateful thing. No malice. No forethought.
Just dismissal.
That thing I saw, made me think twice.
It's amazing how easily we dismiss people (even animals for that matter). Not paying attention. Not in the moment, as they say. Not really seeing or hearing what is going on right now.
That's what I saw not too recently. It was done to me. And that was bad enough until I realized that I do the same thing, dozens of times a day. I have to say I used to be much more dismissive when I worked in my previous job.
It takes retiring from one job, where the most important decision is really not all that earth shattering, not really very relevant or 'important'. How often we sat around that board room table and said, "Hey, we're not curing cancer". And we'd all laugh and at least for a moment draw a little perspective out of that particular decision making moment. Talk around that same table always veered towards strategy or goals or objectives, something from the corporate sense of world, something, in the scheme of things, really not important.
It takes taking on a new job, one that deals with raising money for a cause, one that insists on making you aware of others moments in time.
It takes witnessing close friends' fighting and struggling with their child's terrible illness where they are forced into a very disturbing and painful 'now', a present moment, where strategy takes on a whole new meaning.
NOW... you are trying to cure cancer.
NOW... every decision is so important, and the ultimate decision doesn't always lie within your grasp or your control.
So being dismissive? It's not an option.
You don't get to dismiss me. Because I'm real.
And, more importantly, I don't get to dismiss you, no matter who you are. For all I know, you could be that friend fighting for their lives. Or that stranger, doing the same thing.
Except for that random, evil, uncaring socio-path (oh, and they're out there) I don't get to dismiss anyone or anything.
That's how I make each moment count.
That's how I see things more clearly.
That's how, the thing I saw, made me think twice.