Seeing Beyond the Surface

Working at McDonald's something I have come to realize is that on both sides of the counter we each don't know the first thing about each other. The customer doesn't know anything about me, and I don't know anything about the customer; all we see is the surface. This reality hit me last night as I was working the front counter. After taking a frail looking man's order, another customer came in that knew him. Overhearing their conversation at the counter I came to learn that the frail looking man had advanced lung cancer...all the while having 2 packs of Menthol Marlboro's hanging out of his shirt. Then the customer doesn't know anything about me. All I am is a crew member at McDonald's. They don't know I write this awesome blog, or study Theology and Philosophy. They don't know I'm involved in my church, or go to school. At times it bothers me, because there are some people who look down on me, and look at me like I'm stupid, and treat me like I'm stupid. So in other words we see people as one dimensional. In Theatre this sort of thing is what happens in a Expressionistic play. In these plays things are seen through the protagonists eyes, while the protagonist is a highly complex character, everyone else in the play is one dimensional. We don't think about people having lives outside of where we meet them.

So, here is a challenge for you: try to see people the way you view yourself...if that makes since. You know you have a job, but you have a family and friends and school, church things. We've all heard it said to be kind to everyone because we have no clue what kind of battle they are fighting in life at the moment. We don't know each others pasts, and we don't know what the future holds; for all we know we're talking to the next CEO of a huge cooperation, or winner of a Pulitzer Award. Who knows. In either case, whether we are "successful" or not, we should always try to look beyond the surface of people and see who they are inside. Be kind, make small talk...you might learn something. If you're tired, chances are the person taking your order is pretty tired too. We're really not different from each other, we are human beings experiencing the same emotions, losses, gains, and just trying to earn a paycheck honestly.