They Aren't Actually Out to Get You!

I returned tonight from a trip to Galiano Island in British Columbia aboard the Victoria Clipper. The Clipper is a high speed boat that travels between Seattle and Victoria. It takes a little under 3 hours to make the journey. It's an awesome way to get up to Victoria and the surrounding area.

On my way back tonight I was sitting near the front of the ship. There was a couple sitting behind me who were exhibiting some strange behaviors. Well, the man of the couple was, anyway.

The boat was fairly empty for our voyage. This man walked a few rows forward of our seats to the very front of the boat and put some things on a seat in the second row. I watched him continually walk to that forward seat, retrieve things from his bag and then return to his seat behind me. He did this over and over again throughout the entire cruise.

As we got closer to Seattle, a crew member came and pulled some curtains that covered the windows that spanned the front of the ship. I wondered why they were doing it, and then noticed a sign that said the curtains had to be pulled upon a night time arrival in Seattle to provide optimum visability for the Captain in the wheelhouse (which was above these windows). That solved the mystery for me. We were pulling directly in to Seattle, and they needed to do this to make it safe for us to dock.

The man literally flipped out after they did this. He was so angry! "Why would they close the curtains right as we are pulling in to the city? I mean we pay for this view... and they close the curtains? That is just stupid!! I don't understand why they did that!" He went on and on. He took it so personally, and he just assumed it was done to irritate him.

He actually had been sitting in the forward seat a few times during the cruise. From that seat, the sign describing what would happen with the curtains was 4 feet in front of his face, and yet... he never saw it.

He was distressed and upset about the curtains being closed, and assumed it was done for no good reason.

I felt it was a great reminder about how we can sometimes make assumptions that do nothing but increase our unhappiness.

The curtains were not drawn to upset and irritate this man. They were drawn to protect his safety upons docking in Seattle.

The man made an assumption, and missed the 'facts' that were right in front of his face!!!!

We all do this at times. Tonight, I was reminded of the importance of looking for the 'reason' behind things and not simply assume that something is happening to deliberately make me unhappy.

The curtains might be closed for a good reason!