About five years ago, I was at a lacrosse tournament with my son in Massachusetts. During one of his breaks we all went to Subway to get a bite to eat. The store was filled with ravenous teenage boys and some of their parents, all lined up, one-by-one, patiently waiting their turn to order. 

The young man in front of me was a friend of Liam’s. As he ordered his sandwich and began talking with friends, he realized the Subway employee had grabbed the wrong bread and was rather far along in completing his order. Without hesitation, he politely stated, “Actually, I asked for the other bread.” She realized her error, grabbed the right bread, and began to make the correct sandwich all over again. I was blown away! Most teenagers (and adults) would have simply accepted the wrong bread and eaten the sandwich anyway, especially given the amount of people that were waiting in line. This young man handled it with matter-of-fact politeness. I was impressed with his behavior.

It reminded me how often we don’t speak up when we should. It reminded me of how we lose our voice because we don’t like conflict or is it because we are trying to be a people-pleaser? Not speaking up leaves everything bottled up and building pressure inside of us which is NOT healthy and it unfortunately leaves us as the person who is 100% not pleased. I guess we have to decide if we will go through life eating a lot of sandwiches we don’t particularly care for or if we are going to ask for the sandwich we actually want and deserve. It’s our choice.

P.S. This isn’t really about sandwiches, but you knew that, right?

With Gratitude,
Beth