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3/03/2011

Be Kind Mission-Day Eight

March 3, 2011

When I fly I am happy, free and glad. When I don't fly, I'm snappy, silly and mad.

The alarm, (two of them just to be sure I get up,) went off at 4:00 am. I rolled out of bed, and made it to the shuttle by 4:30 am.

When I arrived to the Charlotte Airport Starbuck's was calling my name. By 5:05 am, they weren't open yet-was my watch wrong? They should be opened at 5:00! If I've gotta be at the airport on time, surely starbuck's does!

I got my coffee and went to the business center. I was already annoyed at the carts that drive around with those beeping noises. The day before those carts had given me a migraine-yep, after sitting in an airport for ten hours-you'd have a migraine also!

So, when I went into the business center to ask the guy if he could let me into this quiet room he said it was for paying customers only!! "But, I'm a flight attendant," I said! He said, "I don't care. You have to pay."

So much for special perks!

So, back to the noisy area I go. Although, I did find a quiet area-not so quiet. It was, though, quieter than where the noisy carts were. I began to listen to my cd's. Some guy walked up to me and said, "Could you put your headphones on, it's a little loud." I said, "Could you put yours on? I don't have any." He sighed heavily and put his headphones on.

I had to listen to loud, noisy carts, get bumped by starbuck's, and deal with his attitude all by 5:30 in the morning! Shew, it would be a long day.

It sure was! I didn't get called until 10:15 for a short one hour flight to Ohio. I was filled with glee, delight and joy when boarding all my passengers. I bet they wondered what I was up to, I was so chipper! Remember, I had been sitting at the airport for days, hours and it seemed so delightful flying in the air!

Ah, I'm learning so much about this being kind thing. I think I'm only kind when I want to be! I think that's most of us.

By the time 3:30 pm I was exhausted, and not from working hard, but from sitting hard! The hotels in Charlotte were booked because of some basketball game. I had to rent a car, to get to another hotel. When I went to rent a car, they denied me because I didn't have some ungodly amount of money in my checking account. So, I had to take a shuttle back to take a cab to get to the hotel. The cab driver was from Africa where my husband had done a missions trip!

Oh gosh, I was too tired to be kind! However, I knew I was supposed to be kind to this man. So, I began chatting with him. He said that if the hotel he was going to was only two miles away, he wouldn't take a cab, he would walk! That was when I asked him where he was from! He told me all about Africa, and asked me if my husband had been a missionary to Africa. I told him yes, and that my husband had loved the African people.

I tipped the cab driver 6 bucks-and I never tip that generously. However, I thought, "What would my heroin do?"

Maybe, just maybe, six bucks will make a difference in that man's life!? If not, it sure did make a difference in mine, giving it to him!

Ah, now, Lord, I wish I had more than enough funds to tip everyone in the service industry six bucks!

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."
Mother Teresa~

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