The Parable of the FedEx Dropbox
A few weeks ago I needed to return something to a company and was advised to do so at a FedEx dropbox. The instructions I was given informed me about the location of the specific dropbox which was to be used. According to those instructions, the dropbox was in the parking lot of a small shopping center with which both Donna and I are very familiar. It is not at all unusual for one of us to “make a run” to a Kroger store which is in that shopping center.
With all of that being true, neither Donna nor I could remember ever seeing a FedEx dropbox anywhere in that parking lot. I thought that I might have remembered seeing one, but I was not sure. Even if my fuzzy memory was working, I couldn’t remember exactly where it was – if anywhere.
When the time came to actually return the item, I discovered that the instructions were correct. Not only was the dropbox where I was told it would be, but it was located just outside the door of the Kroger store that Donna and I have been in many times.
As I reflect on that experience, I’m wondering if our experience could “translate” to other areas of my life. I’m wondering if I get so focused on wherever I am going or whatever I am doing that I don’t notice anything else. Have you ever (like me) failed to notice a store, a house, a restaurant, etc. until you have some reason to go there or maybe until somebody else pointed it out to you?
What about people? Do we ever get so involved with what we think are important tasks or those whom we believe to be important people that we fail to see people around us who could enrich our lives and whose lives we might be able to enrich?
Although it has been over three decades ago, I still remember something like this playing a role in a presidential election. During what was described as a town hall style debate, one candidate was asked a question by a young man in the audience. He proceeded to walk over to the young man. He looked that person in the eye and answered his question. During that same event, the television camera caught his major opponent (there were three men involved) looking at his watch.
One candidate came across as caring for one individual who, until he asked his question, was just a part of the audience. Another seemed to indicate that he might have had something more important to do and/or he wished that he was ready for this particular event to end.
Can you take a guess who won that presidential election? That one debate was not the only reason that a governor from a small midwestern state defeated an incumbent president, but it certainly was a factor.
I suppose that there are multiple life lessons that could be learned from my experience with the FedEx dropbox. None of those lessons have the potential of putting me in The White House. At the same time, if some of those lessons are learned and applied, there is the real potential that I could be a better person.
One of those lessons is, at least for me, very sobering and challenging. It has to do with the fact that I spent years without ever really knowing where that dropbox was. In fact, I never really cared if it existed.
All of that changed when I needed it. The dropbox was of no value or interest to me until it was useful for me.
Wouldn’t it be sad if I/we treated people the same way?
AUTHOR: Jim Faughn
