What I say vs. What I mean

Ran into a colleague yesterday who was very tired from a long day Friday that stretched into Saturday. He works extensively in counseling and has a standing offer with those with whom he works that if they ever need him, for whatever reason at whatever time, to call him.

Someone actually took him up on this late Friday night/early Saturday morning and he was up all night talking this person down from whatever ledge he had climbed out on. He was very frazzled that the young man called him-even though he admitted that he'd told the kid to call him if he needed him.

Instead of being flattered he was needed by another traveler on Spaceship Earth he was cranky his weekend had been shortened and disrupted. But he had told this young person to call him. This is a like going to the seashore and getting pulled away from the beach by the current and NOT wanting to yell for help because the lifeguard looks like he's working on his tan. Or going to see a doctor when you're sick and apologizing for coming.

I saw a sign on a sales manager desk once that said 'customers are not an interruption of our work--they are the purpose for it.' I spend my time with perfect strangers (and with many flawed ones, as well) so I have to make sure the time I spend with my family is of the quantity and quality that they, and I, realize they are a part of my life and I of theirs. So often we get detoured by another roadside attraction that proves to be a distraction that we say things we never intended to mean, instead of meaning everything that we say.
-bill kenny