Random brokenness

Saturday 18 December 2004

The anonymous waiter who runs the Waiter Rant blog seems like a pretty angry person, but his entry Random Brokenness struck a chord:

A wiser man than me once said we come together not in our strengths but in our brokenness. The universe can hobble us all. When we see some one like Claude we should remember our own brokenness. Deliver him some soup — not judgment.

He's talking about tolerance of homeless people. The brokenness I deal with is disability, but the principle is the same. Compassion for the less fortunate, and an understanding that we are all in the same boat, and all of us abled and disabled in different ways, is extremely important. It isn't always easy to remember. It isn't even always a simple thing to recognize the brokenness around us. But holding on to that feeling of generosity towards that brokenness helps to keep me grounded and in touch with the people around me.

tagged: philosophy   /   via: del.icio.us/jimfl» 6 reactions

Comments

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Bruno Bord 2:51 PM on 18 Dec 2004

waow. Great entry, Ned.
Do you allow me to translate it entirely in French and post it on my blog? (with "by Ned Batchelder" mention, of course, I never steal ideas)

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Ned Batchelder 2:58 PM on 18 Dec 2004

Spread the word, brother!

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Nancy Bea 6:17 PM on 20 Dec 2004

Ned, this is so true. Thanks for the timely reminder.

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Bob 2:41 PM on 22 Dec 2004

Great post. I read through a number of the other posts in the Waiter Rant blog. I think the service business is pretty tough. Too many people seem to think they're entitled to treat waiters like crap.

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Waiter 7:09 PM on 22 Dec 2004

Ned:

Thanks for the link.

Yeah I can be angry. Sometimes that is the only sane reaction.

All the best and Happy Holidays.

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angie 2:07 AM on 24 Feb 2006

I hope someone can help me. My son recently (within the last year) became a waiter to help save money for college, etc. Having been a waiter myself (years ago), I was able to share some of my stories with him related to bad tippers, rude customers, and ways to get revenge. A little while ago, I saw on TV that there were several websites that address this issue where waiters/waitresses can go and "vent." One in particular dealt with celebrity patrons, good and bad. Unfortunately, I didn't write the sites down figuring they'd be easy to find. However, I cannot seem to find those sites now. Can anyone give me some ideas? I would really appreciate it.

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