Some see the glass as half full; some see the glass as half empty; I just see enough water to drown in.
The fire alarm went off at our church after Sunday evening service this week. We weren’t really ready for that: the fire alarm going off while the building is full of people but no actual service is going on.
We’re ready for the alarm to go off during service: the Deacons have stations, the Sunday school teachers have walkie talkies, and the pastors have a set of instructions to read to the congregation from the pulpit.
But after church, while everyone is talking and mingling and leaving? Nothing. When the alarm went off most people acted as though the biggest problem being presented was the difficulty chatting with each other over the blare of the fire alarm. They were not fast to exit. Once outside they hung around the doors hoping to be let back in soon. This is in direct contradiction to the instructions the pastor would have read during a service, instructing them that they should move to the assembly points at the far edges of the parking lot so that the fire department had easy access to the building.
I sent a letter to the pastor documenting the failures I perceived that night and proposed solutions to each. I got a letter back saying, basically, lighten up. The building had been evacuated, the fire department had been unhindered, and that my suggestions were good in an obsessive-compulsive sort of way, but not to expect to see any of them implemented.
We all got out safely. The glass is half full.
We could have gotten out much faster. The glass is half empty.
Whether I share my ideas or not, the situation will be no different next time. Just enough water to drown in.