Thursday, November 19, 2009

The Cookie Theif

The Wally story was such a good one I thought I share this one on perceptions.


I orginally read this or heard about it in the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective people but I guess it's all over the place.

The Cookie Theif - By Valerie Cox


A woman was waiting at an airport one night
With several long hours before her flight
She hunted for a book in the airport shop
Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop
She was engrossed in her book but happened to see
That the man beside her as bold as could be
Grabbed a cookie or two from the bag between
Which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene
She munched cookies and watched the clock
As this gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock
She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by
Thinking "If I wasn't so nice I'd blacken his eye"
With each cookie she took he took one too
And when only one was left she wondered what he'd do
With a smile on his face and a nervous laugh
He took the last cookie and broke it in half
He offered her half as he ate the other
She snatched it from him and thought "Oh brother
This guy has some nerve and he's also rude
Why he didn't even show any gratitude"
She had never known when she had been so galled
And sighed with relief when her flight was called
She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate
Refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate
She boarded the plane and sank in her seat
Then sought her book which was almost complete
As she reached in her baggage she gasped with surprise
There was her bag of cookies in front of her eyes
"If mine are here" she moaned with despair
"Then the others were his and he tried to share"
"Too late to apologize she realized with grief"
That she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief

The ending is an example of what they call a paradigm shift. A change of lenses looking into the world if you will. This is also how Wally changed himself from being a regular old cabbie to being super cabbie. He has a paradigm shift, a changing of the beliefs and principles that ran his life.

The message I want to get across to everyone I know is that you really have absolute freedom in this world. You really can make anything happen for yourself. All it takes is making a decision that that's what you want. If you're a duck, or always see the negative in life, nothing's ever good enough. If you make the decision to look at things in a positive way then you will.

Have a good one!

Mike Hamilton

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