I’m expanding the bounds of MS Awareness Week to include a larger sense of awareness. I’d like to address this to those of you who are sure that you, and only you, are the Most Important Person in the World.
Get your head out of your ass.
I know, I know, I’ve probably offended you with my bluntness. Then again, it’s not the first time today that I’ve done so. I’m talking to you, guy in the big black SUV in the Target parking lot. After all, I’m the person who actually made you stop at the stop sign that was put up near the pedestrian walkway because I had to get across. Not only did you have to stop, but you had to wait while I crossed the walkway. I know I irritated you, because you made a point to vroom your engine as you zoomed past before I hadn’t even completely gotten out of the crosswalk. You figured it out that the only reason I would walk so slowly, in the freezing rain, using my cane, was because I had nothing better to do than make you wait. How dare I.
It wasn’t just you that I held up today. Now I’m talking to the lady at the after-school pickup who had parked in the walking path between the handicapped spaces. I’m the one whose car door was open next to your car…well, as far as it could be open since you were parked next to me. I should have known that you would get the child in the car, get in as fast as you could, and then you’d back out right away without looking to see what was happening with that car beside you. The one in the handicapped space. With the door partly open and a person partly sticking out of that door. In the pouring rain. The one who dared to catch your attention as I sat there. The one who dared to speak to you after you smiled at me and had the nerve to ask you to please not park illegally again. And when you explained that it was raining and you were sick, I pointed out to you that I could not get into my car because you were parked there. And when you smiled and said “God bless”, I should have forgotten that my leg was wet and cold and just understood why you had to do what you did, even though I didn’t.
I know I’m not the Most Important Person in the World. I can’t even name all of the people who rank higher on the list than I do. But that doesn’t mean that I am unworthy of basic courtesy. That doesn’t mean you have the right to do whatever you want to me just because I’m in your way.
In less than half an hour, I encountered two people who each thought he or she was the Most Important Person in the World. And since only one person can be the Most Important Person in the World, at least one of you is wrong. And since I am willing to bet that there is at least one other person who thinks he is the Most Important Person in the World, there is a decent chance that both of you are wrong.
Even if you were the Most Important Person in the World, that doesn’t give you the right to be an asshole.
So I repeat. Get your head out of your ass.
