An essay by Sara Adams on NPR's This I Believe series. It kind of sums up the way I feel about a lot of things.
Be Cool to the Pizza Delivery Dude
If I have one operating philosophy about life it is this: "Be cool to
the pizza delivery dude; it's good luck." Four principles guide the
pizza dude philosophy.
Principle 1: Coolness to the pizza
delivery dude is a practice in humility and forgiveness. I let him cut
me off in traffic, let him safely hit the exit ramp from the left lane,
let him forget to use his blinker without extending any of my digits out
the window or towards my horn because there should be one moment in my
harried life when a car may encroach or cut off or pass and I let it go.
Sometimes when I have become so certain of my ownership of my lane,
daring anyone to challenge me, the pizza dude speeds by me in his rusted
Chevette. His pizza light atop his car glowing like a beacon reminds me
to check myself as I flow through the world. After all, the dude is
delivering pizza to young and old, families and singletons, gays and
straights, blacks, whites and browns, rich and poor, vegetarians and
meat lovers alike. As he journeys, I give safe passage, practice
restraint, show courtesy, and contain my anger.
Principle 2:
Coolness to the pizza delivery dude is a practice in empathy. Let's face
it: We've all taken jobs just to have a job because some money is
better than none. I've held an assortment of these jobs and was grateful
for the paycheck that meant I didn't have to share my Cheerios with my
cats. In the big pizza wheel of life, sometimes you're the hot bubbly
cheese and sometimes you're the burnt crust. It's good to remember the
fickle spinning of that wheel.
Principle 3: Coolness to the
pizza delivery dude is a practice in honor and it reminds me to honor
honest work. Let me tell you something about these dudes: They never
took over a company and, as CEO, artificially inflated the value of the
stock and cashed out their own shares, bringing the company to the brink
of bankruptcy, resulting in 20,000 people losing their jobs while the
CEO builds a home the size of a luxury hotel. Rather, the dudes sleep
the sleep of the just.
Principle 4: Coolness to the pizza
delivery dude is a practice in equality. My measurement as a human
being, my worth, is the pride I take in performing my job — any job —
and the respect with which I treat others. I am the equal of the world
not because of the car I drive, the size of the TV I own, the weight I
can bench press, or the calculus equations I can solve. I am the equal
to all I meet because of the kindness in my heart. And it all starts
here — with the pizza delivery dude.
Tip him well, friends and
brethren, for that which you bestow freely and willingly will bring you
all the happy luck that a grateful universe knows how to return.
