It's the Way You Say It: Becoming Articulate, Well-Spoken, and Clear by Carol A. Fleming

Author:Carol A. Fleming [Fleming, Carol A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Business & Economics, Business Communication, General, Language Arts & Disciplines, Speech
ISBN: 9781609947439
Google: t1NwlQMYU-EC
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Published: 2013-11-15T17:01:15+00:00

Story #2

This incident takes place on a crowded San Francisco Municipal bus. Most of the riders were made aware of a rather loud and very grimy older woman sitting in the middle of one of the benches at the front of the bus. She shouted out commentaries with surly reproach and to no apparent companion. She was eager to debate anyone who innocently met her eyes. We quickly learned to keep our eyes down whenever she surveyed the rest of the riders. Here was a loose cannon.

At Geary Street, a group of three young men got on the bus and stood in the front aisle holding onto the overhead straps. One of them was black, and he stood in front of the woman. Before long as the bus became more crowded, we all heard one more yell from the woman: “Get your black ass out of my face!”

My, my, didn’t the bus get quiet. People froze with their eyes wide open. I swear we all stopped breathing, because I heard all conversations stop. The bus rolled down Van Ness with a load of people looking straight ahead and strangely silent.

I was able to see the young man from my seat. He didn’t move except to glance at his companions briefly. Then, with his head hanging down, I saw him shake his head briefly, look up at the ceiling, and turn toward the woman. He slipped into the empty seat beside her, put his arm around her shoulders, and said, “Now, sugar, how come you to talk so mean to me?” (Take a moment or two to consider this scene.)

She responded immediately, as if to an old friend, “I don’t know, I just been so cranky all day. I think I got this flu comin’ on and I ain’t been sleepin’ so good.” And so they chatted while the rest of us made profound commentary with our eyes, widening and rolling, a nonverbal Greek chorus of amazement and relief. Perhaps they were old friends! At some point the woman must have gotten off the bus and the space beside the young man was empty. When my stop was coming up, I stood in the stairwell in the front of the bus, waiting for the doors to open. I was still profoundly moved by what I had witnessed. As I passed him, I said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” He dropped his face into his hands and whispered, “Lady, you have no idea what that cost me.” I stepped off the bus.

Here was a generous, transcendent act that displayed the gracious, the elegant, response to human orneriness. “Now, sugar,” he had said. “Now, sugar” (we have a long-standing loving relationship, see. And I know you are really a sweet person). “Why you talk so mean to me?”—this with an arm around her shoulder, looking straight into her eyes, and witnessed by a whole busload of people. What started as an assault on him was instantly transformed into a confession of personal difficulty. This

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