Empty Guns

(Contributed by Mitch Greene)

Years ago, I was standing in line at one of my guilty pleasures, Chipotle. I was the third person in line, standing on a red dot indicating where I would be six feet apart from the next person. Mid pandemic, these practices feel like everyday life but not to all of us.

The first person in line was an elderly woman waiting to be served. Between her and me was a man in his late twenties talking on the phone, minding his own business. The only issue was that the man wasn’t wearing a mask and was not following the red dots to stay distanced. He stood there talking on his phone about a foot behind the woman who, at this point, had noticed him and was looked extremely uncomfortable.

Trying to get some space, she would inch forward while he, still oblivious, would also move forward with her. Thankfully, their little dance didn’t last very long. Before I had the chance to get into a public argument and make a fool of myself the workers stepped in and asked him to put on a mask and step back. He did so quickly, and everyone moved on. He never even knew what was happening around him.

I wanted to engage the man about this, but I was afraid he would pull the “masks don’t work” card on me, and I would be stuck in a fight I would never win. Looking back, the issue was never about whether or not the woman was in danger. The fact is that she believed she was.

If you were to walk into a shopping mall with an empty gun in your hand, should the crowd feel threatened? The gun is empty so why should they, right? Obviously, this is a silly question, but the man was doing exactly that.

By not seeing the way others perceived him, he didn’t notice that they saw a threat.

What empty guns are in your pockets? It’s easy to miss the perspectives of others because we can only see from our own. We have to think outside the box and be perceptive of others’ experiences.

The less you notice your empty guns the more you’ll end up holding. Is it how you eat, talk, present yourself, your habits? The little things in your life could be major to another person.

To you it may be an empty gun but to them... it’s just a gun.