http://www.care2.com/greenliving/walking-your-talk-how-do-you-treat-the-waitress.html
Walking Your Talk: How Do You Treat The Waitress?
We had a TV series in London. One of our fellow TV presenters seriously upset the camera crew when they arrived at his house. He was rude and dismissive, essentially putting himself on a pedestal and treating them like lowly workers. Minutes later, when the camera was turned on, he became the perfectly smiling spiritual icon he was publicly known to be. But, as the crew told us later, he had already shown them that he did not walk his talk.
In contrast, Ed was meeting with Jo, our TV producer, in a small London cafe where the tables were situated very close together. Two well-dressed African men sat down next to them, which effectively meant they were sharing the same table. Ed asked them where they were from and one said, South Africa. His name was Jacob Zuma, then president of the ANC and now president of South Africa. Ed gave him a book that we had written with contributions from President Gorbachev, the Dalai Lama, and President Vaclav Havel. Jacob said the book would be in the hands of Nelson Mandela the following evening, someone who supports Jacob’s presidency.
Usually, if you sit next to someone in a big city cafe, they do not even make eye contact, let alone conversation. Jacob had never met Ed before but he treated him in a very friendly and gracious way. He could have been distant and polite, and he certainly did not have to talk, let alone maintain communication, which he did over the following few years. He even hugged him! In this way, he displayed no sense of discrimination or elitism.
How we walk our talk shows far more than just our public behavior. Rather, it highlights how we view the world and our place in it. A few days ago a friend was telling us that a business agreement she had been nurturing for over three years had abruptly come to an end. “He wanted to exclude me from part of the discussion with one of my contacts, which I said was absolutely not agreeable. So he said that was it and he got up and left.” But instead of being shattered after losing all the years of work, she felt a huge relief. He had shown her his true colors. As she said, “He had shown me how he treats the waitress.”
Many years ago we met with the Dalai Lama at his residence in India. While we waited for the meeting Ed was standing on the veranda, enjoying the beauty of the mountains stretching in front of him, when he saw a monk at the far end of the veranda trying to get his attention by beckoning us to come. We thought he would bring us to our meeting but as we came closer to the monk we realized that he was the Dalai Lama. In traditional Buddhist custom, we immediately began to prostrate but he took our hands and lifted us up, saying, “No, no, we are all equal here.”
That teaching stayed with us. As Deb first thought, ‘Oh sure! You are the great Dalai Lama, spiritual leader to millions. How can we possibly be equal?’ But over the following months I felt his words in the core of my being and experienced the true equality he was referring to: the equality of our shared humanness and, simultaneously, our shared heart.
The Dalai Lama showed us how he treats a waitress - with the consideration and respect that he treats all beings. No matter who we are, whether a street cleaner or a president, we are all here together as one human family.
Ed and Deb are featured bloggers for Huffingtonpost.com/Living. Their new book, Be the Change, How Meditation Can Transform You And The World, with forewords by the Dalai Lama and Robert Thurman, and contributors such as Marianne Williamson, astronaut Edgar Mitchell, Byron Katie, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Jane Fonda, Jack Kornfield, Ed Begley Jr, and others, will be published November 3, 2009 by Sterling Ethos. Deb is the author of award-winning book Your Body Speaks Your Mind. Ed and Deb lead meditation retreats and workshops. They are the creators of Chillout daily inspirational text messages on Sprint cell phones. See: www.EdandDebShapiro.com
related stories
-
eddeb
(2 comments)
-
(1 comment)
-
(1 comment)
Robyn
Melissa
Deepak
Eric
Dave
Dr. Brent
Isha
Susan
Delia
Michelle
Wendy
Megan
Hilary
Ann
Judi
Ronnie
Kelly
Lily
Terri
Betsy
Cait
Andrew
Jana
Annie B.
Veronica
20 comments
add your comment »I really wish people can see how they really act, some would be so embarrassed.
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
Excellent article! I believe that how we treat not others truly does reflect who we REALLY are.
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
It could be a part of the big influence and reverence the Dalai Lama has...that he deeply feels himself equal to all? If somebody feels himself to be high up he/she could be oblivious to perceived 'mistakes' because they could lower the pedestal, when we are all equal we all have our own responsability but also the shared humanity which gives us room to breathe....
A beautiful article, thank you!
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
Thnak you for your comment it reasonates with me.
Ed
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
Thank you for this moving text. And, in particular, what you write about the Dalai Lama: "... the consideration and respect that he treats all beings".
"Peace to ALL beings" is a categorical principle in Buddhism (not only peace to us humans!). If our species would only learn to act and behave like that!
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
To tell you the truth I enjoy the company of a lot of waitresses
In general they seem to be more apt and adapted to such tasks as short order cooking more than the males. I am quiet and dignified with the very young ones.
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
we do write for HuffPost .. Joyfully, Ed
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
Thank all of you who have written a comment. I like replying individually but when Robyn returns I will have her show me how. This is our first blog for Care2.com
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
I think that the reason that some people treat food professionals badly is because they perhaps worked in the industry themselves and are VERY dissapointed with spending their money and not getting decent food and service. (IMHO) I would never treat anybody handling my food in a bad way. Obviously they can "alter" your food and you will regret it.
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
Reminds me of the one about an aggressive man who walks up to the airline stewardess at the counter. He begins to abuse the travel professional thinking that acting like that will get him an upgrade. He starts to get beligerant shouting "Do you know who I am?" She gets on the loudspeaker and in a calm voice says, "There's a man here who doesn't know who he is, can anybody please help him?"
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
Facebook account: