Fed Up

By now, many of you have heard the story of the JetBlue flight attendant who quit his job in a most spectacular way. 'Fed Up' with two squabbling passengers, one of whom cursed him out and banged him in the head with a suitcase, he delivered a 'colorful' farewell speech and grabbed a six-pack. He then deployed the emergency chute and exited the aircraft by sliding down like a kid at a water park. Hopefully it was worth it, for he is in no end of hot water and may even go to jail.

So much for his bad behavior. What about the woman who created the problem in the first place? Apparently she and another passenger got into a fight about overhead bins. Honestly, have we become so entitled that we cannot brook one moment of inconvenience? Is it really so awful to check your bag? (I know, they charge for that now...sigh...) Or to have to wait for a few minutes while they off-load it? Heaven forbid that a wheelchair-bound passenger has his chair put out before your Louis Vitton. Have we truly become so spoiled and uncivilized? And when you observe such nonsense, don't you feel a little 'Fed Up', too?

We've all seen it happen, and not just on an airliner. Ever been in line behind someone in a hurry at Starbuck's? How about some good old-fashioned road rage? Or, riffing on the airline theme,  felt that sinking pit in your stomach when you see the line for airport security? I admit that tries my patience. Can I be frank with you?  I just loathe it! 'Fed Up'!

As a recovering 'impatient-aholic', I have to check myself on these things. I get 'Fed Up', but that is no excuse for me making it worse by whining or having a tantrum. I try and get my sense of humor out when confronted with such situations - like the soccer-mom who was having a meltdown in the car behind me one day as we were picking up our children. The school zone is 20 mph, and there is usually a nice motorcycle officer ready to 'remind' you of that. So, impatient as I am, I go 20 mph. Well, one day the lady behind me was just 'Fed Up'. She was yelling at me and flinging her arms up, then started banging on her steering wheel. At first, I had a bad opinion of her, but then I got to watching how silly she looked, and it made me laugh out loud. I mean, what good was it doing? It didn't make me go any faster - I wasn't going to get a ticket to just make her feel better. Then I felt sorry for her. I have found myself in situations where I feel stressed for time, and it rarely brings out the best in me. And I realized that I must look just as ridiculous when I'm getting annoyed. That made me laugh, too.

It's things like this that make me think God must have a great sense of humor. He has to watch all of us get cranky and irritable and fussy. What a loving and grace-filled God we have that he does not get
'Fed Up' with us on a regular basis! Instead, he loves us and forgives our foibles; and gives us some practical advice for the times when we feel 'Fed Up'. In Ecclesiastes, chapter 5 he tells us:

"Do not be quick with your mouth,

do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God.

God is in heaven and you are on earth, 

so let your words be few.

As a dream comes when there are many cares,

so the speech of a fool when there are many words."

So the best thing to do when we're feeling 'Fed Up' is, to use an impolite term, to 'Shut Up'. Just be quiet for a minute. ...'do not be hasty in your heart...' and think before we speak. Remember mom telling you to, "count to ten before you say anything..."? It's still good advice, isn't it? Godly advice, for the next time we feel "Fed Up'.