Introspection + Contemplation + Ideals

A couple of weeks ago, I ate lunch at Quiznos Sub's. The server smiled and eagerly asked if I wanted white or whole wheat bread. I chose whole wheat bread. The smile was warm and genuine. Then a random train of thought went by... leading me to remember this:

Once long ago, I worked at a movie theater. At the concession booth, I toiled away at serving popcorn "layered" with margarine (layered refers to half filling the bag with popcorn, applying margarine and then filling the rest with popcorn and adding more margarine), "up-selling" extra large pop (double the size for 50 cents more), nachos with jalapeño, cheese and salsa, and extra expensive hot dogs to movie goers.

The fun times were when we goofed around and ate the day's left over hot dogs dipped in the day's left over nacho cheese sauce (otherwise they throw it all away!). When it wasn't busy, we tried to look busy and needlessly cleaned things. I also remember when the manager yelling at us for not popping popcorn during the pre-movie rush. He wanted the buttery smell in the air.

Anyways, there was one time when I was serving and the manager came up to me afterwards. He said, "a customer approached me just now and said that they had the best customer service experience ever because of you." I smiled, thinking "wha? who?". After the flabbergastation wore off, I felt quite smug and accomplished. I mean who gets such a satisfied experience out of being served popcorn layered with Becel and Coke!?

And this was the meager satisfaction I could get out of a minimum wage paying job. Those were fun times.

Is my mind half full or half empty? Of what you ask? I like to think that it's more full of optimism than not.

Some may see this glass of liquid as 'half full' while some may see the same cup as 'half empty'.

Just like the glass, you can look at life from different perspectives and have different opinions on things. A matter of optimism vs. pessimism, positivity vs. negativity.

There are things in life that I really value, that I find worth in. What those are exactly is not the point, but I'm thinking in a broader general sense. Take my university experience for example. As I discussed before, I learned and grew much. But to some others, the university experience (be it the particular school or program of study) was a waste of time and money.

Or take church for example. Some are negative about (their own) church and say it lacks this and that and express discontentment. But the exact same church is my place of comfort and contentment. Can we see things so differently?

Or Canadian health-care for example. Some say that the country's health care is deteriorating. But easily forgotten is the fact that we have universal public health care and state of the art medical facilities which many in the world don't have.

Do you notice the fullness or the emptiness?

I guess this shows, people experience life in different ways. Perhaps they do recognize that what we have is good and acceptable but are also saying it can be much better... and they fret over the 10% that could be improved. Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of ambition and progress and we should definitely strive to achieve more. But do we have to be such grumps about it?

I like to think that my optimism isn't just mindless, hopeless empty rhetoric. My optimism comes from focusing on the positives, in the beauty of things. I believe to bear the burdens of life well (and so far it's worked), we must try to take the best things out of situations and learn from it and adapt because of it. To notice only the negatives or dwell mostly on the negatives distracts you far too easily from the positives and leads you to a path of frustration.

If you look for the negatives, you are sure to find it in everything.

There are times when I've talked excitedly to others about a certain movie, restaurant, store or product, only to be met with an unenthusiastic or condescending "...it was OK, it was so so". Perhaps these folks have a much finer taste in these things that is beyond me... or are just different, which is fine.

Yes, having different opinions and perspectives makes life interesting, sometimes leading to great duels of words and ideas. With that in mind, I optimistically hope that you take note of the beautiful and good things in life and learn to focus on them. Disagree as you may with others, I ask that you try not to ruin the good and beautiful things experienced by them.

“Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only beauty.” (Preface)

The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde

In my business travels, I am called Sir a lot - from flight attendants, taxi drivers, hotel and restaurant workers, airport employees (minus the custom guards who I always call Sir or Ma'am).

"Hello Sir", "Thank you Sir", "Take care Sir".

While this may be just common courtesy and may not mean much, I feel being called Sir is undeserving for me. Sure, I am playing the part of the businessman and they the servers. Sure, it's a sign of respect, but I feel undeserving of that respect, because I've done nothing to earn it. I mean just because I'm dressed up and able to pay (with company money) for these services... does that makes me entitled to be called Sir? I don't think so.

Some people may like being called Sir, but me... being called Sir by others, especially older people is weird. In Korean culture, it's important and common to show respect to those that are older then you. And certainly, I try to call people Sir when I can.

Just the other day, as I was being dropped off at home by a taxi driver, I was going to say "Thank you, good night Sir".
But then he said "Thank you Sir" first.
So I just left it at "Thank you, good night", thinking "darn it, he got to it first..." I thought it would be forced and awkward when two people are calling each other Sir.