I was minding my own business last night. My kids were in bed. My wife was watching a crime drama downstairs (hopefully not one about a wife murdering her husband while he is asleep) and I was zoning in and out of consciousness in the bed upstairs while also watching some television. As you can tell, Leah and I have very distinct TV viewing habits. She likes shows where people die and I like shows where animals are given life! I can’t even remember what I was watching, but out of the corner of my eye I detected some quick movement. For whatever reason, I immediately went from oblivious mode to ninja mode (I think I pulled a muscle) by jumping out of the bed and toward whatever had moved. Instead of the object of movement being a crime drama crazed wife or an intruder, I discovered that a white moth had entered one of the doors of our house, which was probably left open by one of our non-energy conscious kids. I guess they are trying to do their part in the fight against global warming by letting all the cool air in our house outside into the atmosphere. Al Gore would be proud.
After getting a handle on my surroundings, I realized that I had overreacted. Rather than rapidly going on the offensive against an “unidentified object,” I should have been slow to counter. Many conflicts could be avoided if people would show restraint and examine all the facts before responding.
Have you gone on the offensive against someone or something without first exploring the whole truth?
RIP – the moth
