Wednesday; September 26

          Last week Jeane and I were booked to fly through Dallas but nature had a different plan.  On Friday the Dallas-Fort Worth airport was shut down by over seven inches of rain causing airlines to scramble with what to do with dozens of planes already in the air.  We (along with hundreds of our new-found friends) ended up with a bonus stop in San Antonio, Texas.  The next several hours were filled with angst, confusion, chaos and irritation.  As I look back at the event (through less emotionally-fueled lenses) the thing that stands out to me was the lack of communication.  I can’t blame the airport for shutting down, nor can I  fault the airlines for not being prepared – this was a historic event – but, I wish someone would have just communicated with me.  Something as simple as someone saying, “Here is what you need to do and here is where you need to stand” would have abated a lot of the issues that developed.  I knew they were overwhelmed and didn’t have all the answers, I just wanted to know if I was doing what I was supposed to be doing to help them get us out of the jam. 
          As I got to thinking about this I started wondering if it can teach us something about how to deal with crisis in our own lives.  In essence, when we are hurting or when we are stressed a little communication can go a long ways in helping us get through the issue with fewer hurt feelings.  Typically, when we discuss communication in crisis, we put the emphasis on the helper’s ability to communicate, but when I am in crisis a priority should be to tell the people wanting to assist me what I expect from them.  Do I want them to help me find answers or do I just want to them to sit with me and quietly hold my hand?  Can I fix this myself or am I overwhelmed to the point that I need someone to intervene and take over the control of the situation?  When we are struggling, typically there are people able to help – if they just knew what we needed. 
          Let’s not expect people to read our minds.  A few simple, straight-forward comments from us might help others to be more helpful and ease our own burden.
          Think About It!

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