Following hours of tossing and turning, you've finally found the sleep that so eluded you.
Then, a jarring knock at the door.
Or the irritating ring of a phone.
What's our first instinct after, "Please mercy, leave me be."?
You answer the phone and when asked if you were asleep, you won't admit it.
Them: "Did I disturb you? I'm sorry..."
Us: "No, no. I was just waking up to...go to the bathroom."
Or (if it's not in the middle of the night):
"Actually, my alarm...just went off."
And:
"No, it's fine. I needed to get up. I was almost....done praying anyway."
Why do we feel the need to do this?
What is the obsession with these pleasantries?
Maybe we're just kindly responding with thoughtfulness in the spirit of their "thoughtful" apology.
How about for once, we say what we really feel?
Like, "Yes, your disturbed me, but I'm up now, so what is it?!"
Or, "Sure, I was asleep but then the phone rang and woke me up!"
Instead, of we go out of our way to insure the disturber that their intrusion just happened to coincide with the our planned end of peace?
We pretend to admit that we were just at the point where we'd be open to an interruption.
"No, it's fine. I was just up....washing my face."
Why should we make them feel better about encroaching on our privacy?
We're the one awake when we really want to be left alone.
Comments