One Sunday morning I was waiting at the subway in Amsterdam. People were sitting quietly – some reading newspapers, some lost in thought, some resting with their eyes closed. It was a calm peaceful scene. Then suddenly, a man and his children entered the the subway. The children were so loud and rambunctious that instantly the whole climat changed. The man sat down next to me and closed his eyes, apparently oblivious to the situation. The children were yelling back and forth, throwing things, even grabbing people’s papers. It was very disturbing. And yet, the man sitting next to me did nothing. It was difficult not to feel irritated. I could not believe that he could be so insensitive as to let his children run wild like that and do nothing about it, taking no responsibility at all. It was easy to see that everyone else on the subway felt irritated too. So finally, with what I felt was unusual patience and restraint, I turned to him and said: “Sir, you children are really disturbing a lot of people. I wonder if you couldn’t control them a little more? “. The man lifted his gaze as if to come to a consciousness of the situation for the first time and said softly: “Oh, you’re right. I guess I should do something about it. We just came from the hospital where their mother died about an hour ago. I don’t know what to think, and I guess they don’t know how to handle.”
Can you imagine what I felt at that moment? Before I spoke to that man I saw a completely different person. And because I saw different, I thought different, I felt different and I behaved different.
This is an example of a very powerful “AHA!” experience…
Have you ever experienced “AHA!”? Please tell me, you would made me really happy with your story.