Sharing one of my favorite poem and its analysis at the end -
The Cookie Thief
1. Do we make too many assumptions? Have you ever been absolutely convinced of something and then found out later that you were mistaken? In the book The Four Agreements the author says that mistaken assumptions are the source of much of the conflict we experience in our lives.
The Cookie Thief
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 shops.
Bought a bag of cookies and found
a place to drop.
She was engrossed in her book but
happened to see,
That the man sitting beside her,
as bold as could be.
Grabbed a cookie or two from the
bag in between,
Which she tried to ignore to
avoid a scene.
So she munched the cookies and
watched the clock,
As the gutsy cookie thief
diminished her stock.
She was getting more irritated as
the minutes ticked by,
Thinking, “If I wasn’t so nice, I
would blacken his eye.”
With each cookie she took, he
took one too,
When only one was left, she
wondered what he would 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… oooh, 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 to the gate,
Refusing to look back at the
thieving ingrate.
She boarded the plane, and sank
in her seat,
Then she 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 in
despair,
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.
How many times in our lives,
have we absolutely known
that something was a certain way,
only to discover later that
what we believed to be true … was
not?
1. Do we make too many assumptions? Have you ever been absolutely convinced of something and then found out later that you were mistaken? In the book The Four Agreements the author says that mistaken assumptions are the source of much of the conflict we experience in our lives.
2. Do we give others the benefit of doubt – Most people actually have a good reason to do the things they do (and not because they are crazy, rude, jerk or stupid). Do we try to find out why people are behaving the way they do? Cut people some slack.
3. Do we introspect? I have seen many cookie thieves tagging others as cookie thieves, without having a slightest idea of their own selves, that is the worst part, we sure need to introspect.
3. Do we introspect? I have seen many cookie thieves tagging others as cookie thieves, without having a slightest idea of their own selves, that is the worst part, we sure need to introspect.