An Error of Comedies?

    Playing ring-around-the-phone-queue has never made my top-10 list of favorite activities.  Recently however, it proved somewhat humorous. Which is good, because playing secretary for upwards of an hour makes me pretty cranky.  It takes a lot of grit to run a household some times, you know?
    Taking little thought as to the security of our bikes, stashed haphazardly in the basement storage area, we supposed they were fine; and if they weren't, well, we live an apartment life and have little space in which to finagle our belongings.  We were well aware that there have been a string of thefts in this complex, but didn't pay much mind since we both have minimalist tendencies and I needed a new bike anyway.  Sure enough, they disappeared from the basement.  "Lucky us", we figured.  "Free disposal service!"  And I just have to say, the mental image that emerged of some stealthy burgler riding away on a weather-beaten mountain bike with rusted, flat tires and chains that probably don't work was enough to make us more than a little amused.  I doubt there would be much return on that!

    Anyway, back to the "office-ry" (Apartment life, remember?) where I was making these boring phone calls.  About thirty minutes or so after a chat with the apartment manager about a potential power-line issue and mentioning the thefts, I get a visit from the maintenance man informing me that he had taken the bikes and put them in a locked area, because they were in a bad place.  Perhaps it officially makes us an odd couple, but we weren't exactly relieved to hear this!  We thought we'd gotten rid of them for good.  Where most people would find occasion for jubilant celebration, I had to tell Joel,"Hey Babe, bad news; the bikes weren't stolen after all!".  
    That made me stop and seriously consider something so real in life and not unlike this situation.  Sometimes, as human beings, we are quick to assume things that aren't accurate, and assign meaning to things that we really know nothing about; particularly when it comes to dealing with other people. Appearances are not all they seem.  We assumed our bikes had been wrongfully stolen by an ill-intended person.  Actually, they had been thoughtfully taken by kind apartment staff and stored carefully behind a locked door (which, bless him, he offered to keep there for us knowing we are short on space).
     It is so easy to make snap judgments about people and situations.  We think we know them in their entirety, but we may not. Sometimes, we have to stop and look at things from a different perspective, which takes effort.  Not everything done differently than you is wrong, it's just that it's different. A dreaded word, I know, because that means we cannot boil everything down to one simple solution.  It means that we can no longer assign meaning to actions.
    People come from different backgrounds and struggle through different circumstances to which we may not be able to relate. We cannot color a person's situation or behavior with our own perspectives and opinions.  That is what leads to misunderstandings.
    Let's stop assuming we know everything about every one, because it does nothing constructive and can actually make a situation worse. Or funny.  Or some odd combination of the two. Like when you find out your bikes weren't actually stolen, and you're still stuck with them.  Anyone in the market for a couple bikes?...