Life Lesson?

Have you ever been in a public place and had a conversation in your head with yourself that goes something like this:

"Hmmm... should I pick up that National Enquirer? Maybe they have some celebrity cellulite pictures in there that will make me feel better... Ugh, why do the kids always have to grab everything off of these-"

"ACH-OOO!!"

"That lady behind me just sneezed. I should say, 'Bless you'... but what if she is satanic and doesn't appreciate being blessed?... Is it normal to bless strangers? I would appreciate it if a stranger said 'bless you' to me, but I'm not satanic.... Maybe if she is satanic and I say 'bless you', she would cry and fall down, like on those shows where the preacher walks around hitting people in the head, and they collapse on the ground. That might be kind of weird, though, in the grocery store... I guess I could just say it and hope it all goes well. She really doesn't look satanic anyway. Satanists don't generally wear flowery shirts and pretty earrings. At least not the satanists that I've seen.... I guess maybe I should just take the chance and say it, and maybe.... well darn, it's been 2 minutes since she sneezed. It wouldn't really be appropriate to say, 'Bless you!' to someone 2 minutes after they sneeze. I don't think the "better late than never" rule would apply to this situation. Oh well... next time."

Either you have this happen in your head, too, or you think I'm insane.

And for the record, because people on the net are sometimes overly sensitive, I do know the difference between Atheists and Satanists, and I'm not implying that un-religious people are evil. This was an officially recorded conversation in my head, and as much as I'd like to, I cannot control what runs through it most of the time.

So anyway... on to my point...

The previous situation happens all too often to me, and I assume to others as well. We over-think, we assume, and we don't follow our instincts. I am a polite person, so what the heck is my problem? Obviously the sneezing example could be applied elsewhere... such as when someone drops something and you pretend you don't notice because you can't decide whether to help them or not.

Like I said... WHAT IS MY PROBLEM?

I am here to say that I am on the road to recovery for my lack of decisive politeness.

Last night while we were checking out at the grocery store, there was an older lady standing behind us.

She sneezed.

I hesitated. Then I mentally smacked myself in the face, and said,

"Bless you!"

She did not cry, fall over, or throw food at me.

She smiled, and said, "Thank you!"

Whew. Lesson learned.