Character Confession: Selfish is as Selfish Does

It’s good to be back Saturdays blogging about my week. It’s Character Confession time, and I got a real eye opener last week.

So did a lot of women who decided to fend for themselves.

I was on a cruise ship for the first time in 16 years. We had an entire day on sea and the winds were rough, clocking in at about 35mph. The ship was swaying and I felt green. I took my little motion sickness pills and headed to a meeting.

My first encounter was with a woman who despite the signs behind her, and the slideshow repeating the same thing, she was saving seats and took issue with my husband and I sitting down where we wanted. We moved down but it was clear as day, don’t be saving seats.

Halfway through the show I had that little movie moment where you feel something and you just know you need a restroom quick. I navigate through the row and here I am again, face to face with the woman. I’m holding my mouth I’m that close to being ill and all she says is, “Don’t knock over my glass!”

I sprint toward the back and get out a quick where’s the restroom, but too late. I’m sick everywhere. I apologize profusely and the woman assures me I’m not the first and just wants me to feel better. I clean myself up, change, head back to the show where the saving seat woman is now asleep, mouth wide open. She’s a larger woman, so I can’t climb through. So her friend, one that enjoyed the saved seat, uses the woman’s one cane to tap her and tell her to wake up to let me through.

Show ends, the lady and her posse end up leaving early after all that, and I’m again in the back when that feeling hits again. This time I make it to the bathroom and announce to the line of women approaching the stalls and hovering over the sink I’m going to be sick. For their convenience I’m hoping to grab a stall and let it go.

No one moved out of the way.

In fact, they stood guard protecting their positions.

So I threw up in front of them, just making it to the trash can.

But because I’d already been sick, it was worse this time around because I was dehydrated yet sick. You get the picture.

It was pretty quiet in that restroom, and when I lifted my head up, I could tell I grossed out those women.

And you know what?

They deserved it.

I guess I’m spoiled, most of my day is alone or in circles that are faith based. Time and time again I watched the cruise crowd block people out of elevator rides, take up floor space so no one else could pass through, push others out of the way for the sake of a jewelry sale, and pile plates high with layers of desserts they could never consume just so no one else could take it.

It shocked and mortified me.

I learned a lot through those observations, sadly about what not to do or how not to behave.

Stay tuned, because on the same ship when I wasn’t throwing up, I saw servanthood at its best.

How about you? Do you witness selfishness on a daily basis to this degree? What would you have done?

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