A CBS news piece this morning shows a woman berating a flight attendant… you may have seen this. The reporter’s “message” is that we should consider the consequences of uploading a video of someone behaving badly. After all, this disgruntled passenger has now been suspended from her job.

Hang on.

Let’s take this down to the human level, and not leave it suspended in the relatively safe social media atmosphere, can we?

How about, consider the consequences before you behave badly?

The passenger said, “I’m stressed out” that was her reason for threatening the attendant and yelling about a crying baby. This was her excuse for her behavior.

There is no excuse for bad behavior. It is what it is. It requires an apology, but even more than that it’s a red flag that we all need to practice discipline and civility. How about kindness? Empathy? Let’s not forget those.

Yet, we do. Often.

We are not perfect, not a single one of us, we will have rough moments, But I’m a bit saddened to see that the media fed this story to us as a lesson in protocol in social media when in fact it should be a lesson in human behavior.

The consequences here are not just the loss of the woman’s job ( at least temporarily), but the lack of self-control leading to
her aggressive words and disruptive behavior affected everyone on that plane, and not for the better.

If you are feeling stressed out, bordering anger, for heavens sake take a breath and think about what is coming out of your mouth. Words are creative in so many ways. They can make someones day or they can disrupt people’s lives.

Words are the social tool we have access to at ALL times, no WiFi needed.

The art of conversation is going out of style. We can save it. It starts with each of us. We can practice every day, and in every situation.

Kind conversation may not get on CBS news, but the impact can be powerful just the same. And we will better the lives of others as well as our own.