Don't Kick The Cat

An old Zig Ziglar story this week.

A man has a tough day at the office.

His boss chews him out for something that wasn’t his fault.

He feels powerless, so he bottles it up and heads home.

When he walks in the door, his wife greets him with a smile.

Still angry from work, he snaps at her.

Now she’s upset.

So when their son comes in, she scolds him harshly over something small.

The boy, hurt and confused, storms outside.

But the boy, full of his own frustration, shoves his sister.

The sister, with nowhere else to send it, turns and kicks the family cat.

Zig Ziglar used to pause here and say…

“Why didn't the boss just skip all the middle steps and go kick the cat himself?”

Anger and stress always flow downhill unless someone chooses to stop the chain.

Every day, we face the same decision.

Do we pass on our frustration to the next person we see?

I think about this story sometimes when I am frustrated, or someone is expressing frustration.

It is really a silly story, but remembering it at the right moment may prevent some cat...somewhere...from getting kicked.