I read earlier this week that it’s harder to be kind than it is to be clever.
My girlfriend and I were cooking dinner for my parents over the weekend. It was supposed to be fun, we were trying out a couple of new recipes and I wanted to let my mom and dad take it easy as we prepared them a meal. But one of the switches on our stoves just wouldn’t turn.
I wanted to use another stove but my dad – ever the fixer-upper – wouldn’t let it go. He forced the switch and gas started hissing out. Then the switch stuck, and we couldn’t turn it back! Gas kept leaking into the kitchen as we scrambled to turn the switch back and cut the gas off, but no luck.
Amidst this rush, I snarled at my dad: “I told you to leave it alone already!”
I really regretted that.
We twisted the switch back with a wrench soon after, and on hindsight there really wasn’t any danger in our well-ventilated kitchen. But rather than having a good laugh of relief over a problem solved, I’d turned the situation into an even unhappier one, just because I had to insist on having been cleverer.
The truth is, I had been the dumbest one in that room.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey bro, I have a dad like that too. Maybe worse. And the son doesn’t always have patience for him.
And “it’s hard to say I’m sorry”.
Thanks guys.