WAKE UP!

Hey there

Ever had a taxi stop right in front of you and your blood pressure shoots through the roof like “Juju” after the tribe had spoken?

Or what about people who stand in line to buy lotto tickets, oblivious to court orders for the Lotto to stop wasting, hoarding and not paying money to charities and orphanages that are about to close down. You shake your head and imagine yourself slapping them as if they were a redheaded stepchild.

You stand in line at Woolies with other frustrated shoppers for what seems like an eternity. You suddenly become a person suffering from Tourette syndrome when almost every person, who finally gets to the front of the line, stands there unconsciously not noticing the teller signalling “next customer please!” You now imagine having a fishing rod so you can reach over and snap-slap this idiot and shout, “Wake up, you moron!”

What about moviegoers who only decide what they want to see when they get to the front of the queue!? Or people who buy milk and bread and pay with a credit card? And people who live in the crime capital of the world, “South Africa”,and don’t have a drop of security in their lives.

Or people, who year after year, vote for a corrupt, inept, incompetent, self-serving, nepotistic, buddy-employing government who stuffs up health-care, education, housing, sanitation services and service delivery and appoint incompetent friends as police commissioners who get sent to jail, but they will vote for that same crowd every year?!

…… as much as you believe that these people are doing these things purposefully, in 99% of the case they are not! They are in fact, for the most part, unconscious, fast asleep or sleepwalking if you will.

The taxi driver doesn’t wake up and consciously say “how can I annoy the public today?” He does not have a strategic initiative to roll out misery today. He just doesn’t give you a conscious thought. You do not exist. He is all about himself, inwardly focused and oblivious to anyone else existing on planet earth except his personal immediate moneymaking self.

The shopper disappears into her own world, the moviegoers are engrossed in their own conversation judging and talking about other people and what they are wearing, what they look like etc. etc.

People purchase Lotto tickets without a thought about charity or where the money goes, all they focus on is, “did I – will I – can I – win a jackpot?” They are “me”, “I”, “greed”, “dream” (a good word) focused. Even if you tell them, or make them aware, they may register for a while but then as quick as a flash fall back into their dream world. It’s almost like waking a child up, walking him to bed only to be told the next morning that he doesn’t know how he got there.

For the most part, people are somnambulists. They sleep walk. They look and act awake, they even talk and interact, but they are all really fast asleep to life, reality, their actions and how they impact on others. Sleep is a comfortable, unaccountable, careless, hide-out state of being.

They eat unconsciously because if they woke up and really looked at what cr4p they ate and what it really does to their health, attitude and body, they may have to do something about it. The cr4p is called “take-away’s” because that’s exactly what it does, it takes away your money, your waistline and your health.

People know how to be the best at what they do, they know what it takes, they know but they sleep walk through their jobsmaking mistakes, upsetting customers and performing to the bare minimum. When they get chastised by their bosses, just like the sleepwalking child, they get irritated for being disturbed, have a bad attitude and go straight back to sleep.

You can trace most if not all customer service problems, failed sales, labour disputes, failed relationships and much more, on the fact that people were just not aware, took no note, did not care and did the exact opposite to what they should have done.

Next time you call someone “thick” or “stupid”, and you lose your cool; try to stop and realise that they’re just unconscious. They are asleep. The taxi driver is in fact delivering fantastic customer service by dropping his client on the exact inch of pavement she requested. How is that for awareness?

You see the more aware we are of how unaware people are, the more we can stress less and anticipate what they may or may not do. It is a beautiful, funny thing to see sleepwalkers walking through life from a conscious point of view. Now just add a cell phone while driving, a lost temper, poor self-image, ego issues, peer pressure, image, feelings of inferiority, short man syndrome (and whatever the female equivalent of this syndrome is) and you have people who are living in a constant nightmare. The issues help them to become even less aware of reality and they become instant a-holes.

I have watched in amazement people hitting their children, and who are then shocked when their kids solve all their problems with violence.

I witness tobacco companies placing horrific warnings on their products about the harm they do to their customers and, I kid you not – cigarette sales actually increase. They grow! Do you get this ? Now that warnings have been put on the packages and the advertising has been banned, they actually sell more cigarettes.

I have observed that alcohol is present in almost 72% of all violent crimes and in the majority of serious motor vehicle accidents. It is the major cause of broken homes, abused children and rape and yet people drink more – and they ban cigarette advertising and smoking? Go Figure!

I am not even going to get into reverse apartheid, affirmative action, BEE, the economy, failed marriages or our human breeding programme. “Let’s have s3x, lots of it!” S3x between people who have no financial means. They can hardly survive each day themselves, but they have dozens of children they cannot afford, cannot educate, cannot feed or clothe or support and for the most part they just leave the mothers to fend for themselves. Then they blame the government, taxpayers and the “whites” (a favourite of many somnambulists!) a simple solution would be to wake up and put it back in their pants.

I don’t know about you, but I waited until way into my 30’s and only after having the means to support a child, did I do so. Today my kids are given the best I have to offer in discipline, support, love and education. They are my responsibilityuntil they are of age then hopefully, I will be able to set 3 conscious people into the world to make a contribution and a positive difference.

So my fellow travellers, this month is all about waking up!

Wake up to your actions and how they affect others!

Wake up to your actions that create customer loyalty!

Wake up to your words and deeds!

Wake up to your relationships; they are based on what you consciously put into them !

Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!

Wake up to safety; it will save your life!

It’s really funny to be awake and watch how people sleepwalk themselves into misery.

Just like the police constable who decided to climb the flagpole to release a stuck flag. With proud success he slid rapidly down the poll to the ground. Unconscious (because of his ego and his audience) he forgot the hook at the bottom of the poll which was used to tie off the flag rope. He hit the ground, turned and walked into the charge office and suddenly felt dizzy with a warm, wet sensation in his crotch area. The poor unconscious fella had left half of his tackle and one …“orb” on the flagpole. This time he did indeed pass out and today he is a healthy uni-ball.

That was a true “balls up” and a rude awakening a few days later, when he came out of his coma!

Have a great month and have fun noticing the somnambulists who walk, talk and interact with us.

Gav Sharples 

Tel 011 450 4097
[email protected]