The Law of the Garbage Truck by David J. Pollay

The Law of the Garbage Truck™

Copyright 2007 David J. Pollay

How often do you let other people’s nonsense change your mood? Do you let a bad driver, rude waiter, curt boss, or an insensitive employee ruin your day? Unless you’re the Terminator, you’re probably set back on your heels. However, the mark of your success is how quickly you can refocus on what’s important in your life. Sixteen years ago I learned this lesson. And I learned it in the back of a New York City taxi cab. Here’s what happened. I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane when all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, the car skidded, the tires squealed, and at the very last moment our car stopped just one inch from the other car’s back-end. I couldn’t believe it. But then I couldn’t believe what happened next. The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, whipped his head around and he started yelling bad words at us. How do I know? Ask any New Yorker, some words in New York come with a special face. And he even threw in a one finger salute! I couldn’t believe it! But then here’s what really blew me away. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was friendly. So, I said, “Why did you just do that!? This guy could have killed us!” And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call, “The Law of the Garbage Truck™.” He said:
"Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they look for a place to dump it. And if you let them, they’ll dump it on you.

So when someone wants to dump on you, don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Believe me. You’ll be happier."
So I started thinking, how often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the street? It was then that I said, “I don’t want their garbage and I’m not going to spread it anymore.” I began to see Garbage Trucks. Like in the movie “The Sixth Sense,” the little boy said, “I see Dead People.” Well now “I see Garbage Trucks.” I see the load they’re carrying. I see them coming to dump it. And like my taxi driver, I don’t take it personally; I just smile, wave, wish them well, and I move on.

One of my favorite football players of all time was Walter Payton. Every day on the football field, after being tackled, he would jump up as quickly as he hit the ground. He never dwelled on a hit. Payton was ready to make the next play his best. Over the years the best players from around the world in every sport have played this way: Tiger Woods, Nadia Comaneci, Muhammad Ali, Bjorn Borg, Chris Evert, Michael Jordan, Jackie Robinson, and Pele are just some of those players. And the most inspiring leaders have lived this way: Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King. See, Roy Baumeister, a psychology researcher from the University of Florida, found in his extensive research that you remember bad things more often than good things in your life. You store the bad memories more easily, and you recall them more frequently. So the odds are against you when a Garbage Truck comes your way. But when you follow The Law of the Garbage Truck™, you take back control of your life. You make room for the good by letting go of the bad. The best leaders know that they have to be ready for their next meeting. The best sales people know that they have to be ready for their next client. And the best parents know that they have to be ready to welcome their children home from school with hugs and kisses, no matter how many garbage trucks they might have faced that day. All of us know that we have to be fully present, and at our best for the people we care about. The bottom line is that successful people do not let Garbage Trucks take over their life. What about you? What would happen in your life, starting today, if you let more garbage trucks pass you by? Here’s my bet: You’ll be happier.

David J. Pollay is the author of “Beware of Garbage Trucks!™ - The Law of the Garbage Truck™. Visit http://www.bewareofgarbagetrucks.com/ to join the No Garbage Trucks! Revolution. His book, The Law of the Garbage Truck™, is due out this summer. Mr. Pollay is a syndicated columnist with North Star Writers Group, creator and host of “The Happiness Answer™” television program, an internationally sought after speaker and seminar leader, and the founder and president of TheMomentumProject.com

PEACE.LOVE.HAPPINESS

DIFERENT STANDARDS by MARCIE SIMPSON

Funny how for so many weeks Reverend Wright's picture and words from as long as ten years age were played over and over, ad nausium, and most people (mostly white) were so outraged. But whatever he said last week that got Obama to stoop to their level about him was not shown. First, I want to know why it took ten years to object to what they claim he was saying--wasn't it just as bad last year as this year? The only difference is that they could twist his words to make Obama out to be something they don't know if he is or not.
Now that Obama has done what they want him to by denouncing Reverend Wright, clips of those last weeks' speeches were so brief that I couldn't catch what words or comments set them off this time.
I still say, Reverend Wright didn't say anything in those first clips that isn't true. I don't particularly like the way he said what he did, but all of it was TRUE. So what else could he have said last week more than that?
For sure, both Reverend Wright and Obama should be better than to allow the media and politicians to play 'Monkey on a String' with them. Neither one should use the other's name in public, because that only feeds the vultures. Reverend Wright could continue to condemn society's and the Government's treatment of us and other oppressed citizens, the way I see it. And Obama should stick to the issues, and policies and solutions to his constituants' needs, since that's what the campaign is about anyway, not whether Clinton or any other candidate said something bad or unfair about him.
Truth outs, especially in campaign rhetoric, and although most people do not think for themselves, voters are not as dumb as we're too often taken for. (For one thing, we have friends like you, who keep us updated on some of the points that are harder to dig up.--Thanks!) Even if you are mostly preaching to the choir.
Most important, the Clinton's pastor and associates must have said something questionable in the last ten years. Will that be aired for a month and nitpicked to be what it isn't? And what about Hillary Clinton's thesis that disappeared? Can't that be dug up by now?
What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
And by the way, since when is a person's religion or faith criteria for holding office? Didn't we bury that dragon when Kennedy was running? And with those 400+ children in Texas foster homes, while the flap-mouths go on about whether teenaged girls willingly submitted to older men and got pregnant--ignoring the laws clearly agains INCEST--what are they telling us? That incest and child abuse and 'white slavery' shouldn't be mentioned when Mormans practice it? That's part of what Reverend Wright was talking about. Let someone Black be found to do half as much!
Let's not forget that Morman doctrine did not allow Black members into their seven heavens until their ball team got so good they were elgible for national competition. But so many people objected on that point, and they were losing lots of money and trophies, that their head preacher just happened to get the word from God that all their heavens were open to Black people after all!
Any day I'm looking for God to give the good word about young girls and incest and forced marriage. And preaching against the wrongs of society!

PEACE.LOVE.HAPPINESS