Lessons Learned from “The Little Blue Truck”
It can be easy as the holiday season comes along to feel “too busy”. Just yesterday, I had the misfortune of going to a couple of stores that were already mired with holiday shoppers. I was amazed by the lack of civility people exuded, both in the parking lot and in the store. People didn’t want to let others into traffic, or they were jockeying for position to get that all important parking space. Even in the store, people were being unusually aggressive with their carts. Just stopping and letting someone else go in front of me, got smiles, thank-you’s and unusual looks, as if to say, “why is he being nice, what’s his angle?” Then they would rush onward looking for whatever was on their list. It reminded me of the story, The Little Blue Truck.
A few nights ago I was reading The Little Blue Truck to my youngest and thought it was a great message as we go into the holiday season. For those not familiar, here’s a short version. The Little Blue Truck is a story about a friendly little blue truck that says hi to everyone he passes as he drives around.
A Dump Truck comes barging through complaining about being too busy to say hello to everyone, because he’s “got big important things to do.”
When he gets stuck in the mud and needs help, noone comes except for the Little Blue Truck. He of course gets stuck too, but when he “Beeps” for help, the whole barnyard shows up to get them both out of the mud. The Dump Truck then realizes that he should be nicer and that “a lot depends on a helping hand from a few good friends.”
I like to think that the Dump Truck learns that being nice and not being self-centered, is good for everyone, not just him. It’s easy to get wrapped up in our to-do lists and forget about other people. We don’t know what’s going on in their lives, and they could be dealing with all sorts of stressful things in their life. We don’t know. So just try and take a few seconds when you are put into a situation where you can choose to be nice like the little Blue Truck or be like the Dump Truck and imagine you were the person, you’re about to mean or nice to. How would you like to be treated?
It’s know hard to always be nice and friendly like the Little Blue Truck, and I know Mrs. SSC would say I’m definitely more akin to drive like the Dump Truck, but I’m working on it. That’s all we can do. This week, if you’re out on the road, or God forbid, you venture into the shopping madness of the Black Friday weekend, try to be like the Little Blue Truck and be nice to people. I know they’ll appreciate it.
