The Unifier

Do you know a person who seems to serve the function of making something that was easy, difficult?  Maybe they take a situation in which most people were happy with things and cause unrest, frustration and aggravation?   Your PTA runs smoothly, for example, until Sally So-and-so comes to the meetings and then everything gets complicated.  Or maybe it's your book club and the rest of the members are happy with the selected book but that one person goes on and on about it until finally you pick a book no one really wants to read, but you've gotten that person to let it go?

I know one of those people.  I'm not going to say who it is or in what aspect of my life it is because that's not important; what's important is what role this person has for the rest of us I realized today.  She's the unifier. 

What she did, weather her motives were malicious, concerned, justified or just plain batty, caused a great big stir.  And it's not the first time.  Everyone is happily doing what they do, nice things are being said and done, things are happening and everyone is so pleased to be involved with such a nice bunch of folks and then, boom, you feel like you're attacked.

One person responds in email, disagreeing and that only makes matters worse.  More people get incensed because the reaction just doesn't seem reasonable or appropriate and it's done in such a way that now people who weren't even that interested have gotten miffed.  

The next thing I know, I'm getting texts and emails from people about what's going on.  I'm getting calls from people I rarely talk to who want to discuss how the situation got so out of hand so quickly and how could something so small and not-important be such a huge issue to this one person.  Also, does that person even realize how rude and accusatory they sound?

Did it get worked out?  I think it did.  The emails have died down and people have now started to joke about the silliness of the whole thing.  So what did that person who instigated all the negativity do overall?   To me, she did two things.  First, she solidified her reputation for over-reacting and being rude.  But second, she unified the rest of us.   There's nothing like a little drama to pull people together.  

As much as people may dislike an instigator or someone who seems to like to argue just for the sake of arguing, these folks help to unify everyone else together.

The Big Boy Update:  This morning he wasn't ready to go to school so he went downstairs.  When I found him he was sitting at the computer (which he doesn't know how to use) and said, "I working on the pooter."  This afternoon he got out his doctor's kit and asked me if I had any boo boos.  I lay down on the couch and he helped check me out, knowing how many of the instruments were used.  I got up after he checked me out and patched me up and he went over to see if daddy needed help.  As I went into the next room I heard him sad, "I need to check your bottom daddy."  I grabbed something and as I came back into the room I heard him say, "I need to glue it on."  I am glad my boo boos weren't as bad as daddy's.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  She needed new shoes so we went to get some after dinner while daddy and her brother stayed at home.  After getting her shoes, we went to get her brother a pair of Crocs because he misses his current pair and they live at school for inside work.  I let my daughter pick out the pair she thought he'd like and she picked out camo-colored Crocs.  I asked her about several other options, but no, she was firm on the camo pair.  When we got home, she gave them to him as a, "present".  He was very pleased, said thank you twice and loves his new shoes.  I'm glad she knew which pair he'd like.