Written by Edgar Luna

Recently my son flew back from college to visit and spent a few days with us, however, on his flight back he was faced with an interesting experience that maybe you have faced in the past.

Taking a flight back to the city where he goes to college and after landing to his destination and waiting for the doors to open, like many of us know there is an organized process of exiting the plane, one row at a time starting with the ones at the front until you get your turn. When he stood and waited his turn to exit, he heard someone right behind him demanding him to move with a very bad attitude, however there was no space to move because people were right in front waiting also and with no space to move.

The person in question proceeded to demand him to move. He felt that he didn’t have control to let her through because of the limited space, however the tone from this person turned to harassment along with a few friends, the person in question who celebrated what she said about him and the way she was behaving. Without knowing anything about him, they started to criticize everything about him, his hair, clothes and his physical complexion.

After finally seeing the doors open and thinking that this experience was over, the group started following him and calling him names and kept harassing him, following him until he was able to get on his train.

Now in these situation,

What would you be tempted to do?

As experienced by my son, he did not do anything wrong and the person being him was unfair and that might have been enough reason to talk back, get into a discussion and make a big scene.

However he decided to let go of those emotions and even though he had the reason to react with the same energy and attitude, he kept calm and showed character.

I’m sure you have dealt with something like this at some point in time and maybe you have taken the high road or maybe you have let some stranger rob you of your peace.

As I found out about this event, the first thing I wondered was:

What would this person be going through that made her act in such a manner ?

Trying to empathize and understand why something so small set off so many negative emotions towards someone that she didn’t even know, judging him and trying to rob his peace.

I have also had similar experiences as him and I have been through several events where I seem to be in the path of someone that is ready to release their frustrations with any person that gets in their way. I’m sure everyone has dealt with this.

However in those situations try to stay calm and breathe, thinking that whatever they are saying about you is not true as they do not know you. Think about the big picture of whether confronting someone for a misunderstanding will help you in the future or harm you. Also I try to empathize and understand why this person is so upset.

Strength of character is knowing when to step away from a situation that might make you feel justified to take action, however you know that managing your emotions is much stronger that letting them control you.

E. Luna