When I was in 7th grade I got suspended from the football team for doing something dumb. I mention it now because it’s one of those random events that’s had a kind of outsized impact on my life.
One day I was on the street with a friend of mine when he pulled a dyeing pack out of his pocket it, waved it at me and said, “look at this.” He twisted one end of the packet several times and then threw it to the ground. The dyeing sprayed everywhere. For a 12 year old boy, this is very cool. We immediately went to hardware store to get more supplies.
We threw these little dyeing bombs around the neighborhood, all the while making a mess without much regard for public property. Soon we rushed back to school to show the rest of our friends. Somehow we ended up in the locker room, probably because we knew we’d be away from any teachers. I demonstrated the twisting technique neccessary to get the right amount of pressure in the little packet for it to explode properly. I proceeded to throw three or four of these against the wall of lockers, making a big mess. We all laughed and ran off.
It was only a matter of time before I was summoned into the director's office. They knew I was guilty. Other kids had already told the phys-ed teachers that I was the one responsible for the mess. One of the teachers brought me to the locker room to reassess the damage. I realized then that I had zero regard for the person who might have to clean the mess up, had I gotten away with my crime. I spent the suspension time reflecting on my actions. Why did I think it was cool to just make a mess for someone else to clean up? My dad asked me the same question when he heard about it. I made someone else’s job harder for no other reason than a quick laugh. What was the point?
All these years later I’m pretty far past throwing around dyeing packets for fun, but the lesson still has a lot of merit. Basically, think about how your actions impact other people. When you get in trouble for something it’s usually because your actions and stupidity have impacted someone else. I feel like we spend too much time thinking about how our actions impact ourselves instead of considering how they impact others. We are living in a time of unprecedented connectivity. Everything you say or do has the potential to reach a lot of people. Keep your mind open, think about who your actions might impact, and try to make that impact a positive one.
One day I was on the street with a friend of mine when he pulled a dyeing pack out of his pocket it, waved it at me and said, “look at this.” He twisted one end of the packet several times and then threw it to the ground. The dyeing sprayed everywhere. For a 12 year old boy, this is very cool. We immediately went to hardware store to get more supplies.
We threw these little dyeing bombs around the neighborhood, all the while making a mess without much regard for public property. Soon we rushed back to school to show the rest of our friends. Somehow we ended up in the locker room, probably because we knew we’d be away from any teachers. I demonstrated the twisting technique neccessary to get the right amount of pressure in the little packet for it to explode properly. I proceeded to throw three or four of these against the wall of lockers, making a big mess. We all laughed and ran off.
It was only a matter of time before I was summoned into the director's office. They knew I was guilty. Other kids had already told the phys-ed teachers that I was the one responsible for the mess. One of the teachers brought me to the locker room to reassess the damage. I realized then that I had zero regard for the person who might have to clean the mess up, had I gotten away with my crime. I spent the suspension time reflecting on my actions. Why did I think it was cool to just make a mess for someone else to clean up? My dad asked me the same question when he heard about it. I made someone else’s job harder for no other reason than a quick laugh. What was the point?
All these years later I’m pretty far past throwing around dyeing packets for fun, but the lesson still has a lot of merit. Basically, think about how your actions impact other people. When you get in trouble for something it’s usually because your actions and stupidity have impacted someone else. I feel like we spend too much time thinking about how our actions impact ourselves instead of considering how they impact others. We are living in a time of unprecedented connectivity. Everything you say or do has the potential to reach a lot of people. Keep your mind open, think about who your actions might impact, and try to make that impact a positive one.
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