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It's All Growl.
Chris Shoaf
from Spirituality.com
"Well, Shoaf, what did you tear up this time?" Everyone knew that Joe
was the best mechanic in the plant, and we actually preferred having him
work on our equipment. We just didn't want to be there when he showed up.
He'd always lay into us, with a snide comment about our skills and then
a detailed lecture about how to operate the machinery properly. Sure, he
was always right—and sarcastic and loud.
I always dreaded these uninvited drills. Not only were they
embarrassing, but the things he had to say often got under my skin. At
least Joe didn't play favorites—he barked at everyone.
All this at a job I didn't like all that much. General unhappiness with
the post had made me begin to pray about it quite a bit. I prayed to see
something, anything good about it. It wasn't that I wanted to change the
job, or the people who worked there. I'd been reading a book about
spirituality, Science and Health, and it got me thinking that since
God fills all space and God is good, there is good to be found everywhere.
I really wanted to see the good that already existed, in that
plant, in those people.
It was along about this time that something happened to show me that
good can be found in the most unexpected places.
Early one spring night, as a group of us from work were returning from
a fishing trip, Joe hit a young deer with his truck. Knowing him as we all
did, I think we all expected him to put the poor thing out of its misery
and maybe take him home for supper. But that's not what he did.
He reached down and
tenderly stroked the young deer's neck.
This big, imposing man got out
of his truck and walked over to the deer. He spoke to it gently, as though
he were speaking to a child. "You're okay," he said. "Now get up and go
home to momma." As he said this, he reached down and tenderly stroked the
young deer's neck.
I honestly don't think any of us expected the deer to get up and run
off, but that's exactly what happened. We were startled, you'd better
believe it—not as much about the deer running off as Joe's display of
tenderness.
Being guys, not much was said after that. We all got back into our
separate trucks and headed home. But I marveled at what I had witnessed.
Before, Joe had only spoken unkind words to me and to others. Now I saw
something I had obviously been missing in his character. His gruffness was
all on the outside, a shell. On the inside, he was a marshmallow. It was
almost like he was hiding that part of himself from the rest of us, but
when he let it show, it came out in a most remarkable and tender way. I'm
grateful I was there to see it.
I never got hurt feelings from his words again.
After this incident, my view of him changed.
Oh, Joe was still the manly man at work, but when I heard him bark at me
or at someone else, I would think, "Yea, it's all growl." I never got hurt
feelings from his words again, and I even helped some other guys deal with
him a little better.
For me, this was the part of becoming happier at my job. I learned to
see good all around me. I stayed at that company for nine years.
I learned long ago that the best apples were at the top of the tree and
the best strawberries on the bottom of the bush. The best discoveries
often require a little effort, but the reward is always worth it.
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