Cruisin’
My wife’s parents took us all on a cruise for Christmas. What a great gift and what an amazing time we had! I still wake up every morning thinking about all of the fun we experienced and things we did while we were on the cruise.
The cruise line we used was MSC, which is a European cruise line based out of Switzerland. One of the things that seemed most interesting to me was that on this particular cruise at least 60% of the guests were from another country.
And most of these folks acted very politely.
Even if they didn’t speak the same language I did, you could tell in their eyes and in their mannerisms and expressions that they were trying to be polite and courteous.
Then… while were in port with other cruise lines that were mostly carrying Americans… And adding in the Americans from our cruise ship… I noticed an attitude of mostly rude, pushy and “entitled” people.
What a contrast!
A Real Christian Businessman knows that it is much easier to be polite than to be rude. But growing up and living in a place that perpetuates “me, me, me” and being hardened by the ways of this world makes it difficult to do. We can overcome this tendency by simply remembering we don’t have to act rude just because others are acting rude, and we can set a good example for us (and our country!) by being polite to others we work with and come across in our day-to-day interactions.
“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Eph 4:32 (ESV)
Try this week to be polite instead of rude at work.
It doesn’t take much to do and most people won’t notice.
But it WILL make a difference.