A Different Kind Of March Madness

A Different Kind of March Madness

Short-tempered people do foolish things, and schemers are hated.

Proverbs 14:17

Anyone who has ever had an airport hassle might be able to identify with Neil Melly’s frustration. Melly tried to get from Los Angeles International Airport to Australia, but he couldn’t get a ticket because he lacked a valid credit card. From that small humiliation Melly went on to greater matters of shame: hours later, he stripped off his clothes in angry protest of his situation and made a dash for the airport runway. Baggage handlers watched as Melly scaled a fence topped with three strands of barbed wire, without fear or injury—or clothing. Eventually reaching a jumbo jet, he crawled inside the wheel well of a plane bound for Australia.

Obviously, the dangers were great. As an airport spokeswoman pointed out, had the plane taken off, the stowaway could have been sucked into an engine, frozen to death in flight, or crushed by the landing gear. But pilots were able to stop the plane quickly,^a and Melly was coaxed from his hiding place and arrested on charges of trespassing. Apparently there’s no law against poor problem solving.

How we solve problems when things aren’t going our way says a lot about us. Some of us are quick to give up. Others of us enjoy a challenge. A lot of us, like Melly, are prone to lose our cool under pressure. We might yell or point fingers or smolder with fury. Of course, this doesn’t match stripping in public and climbing barbed wire, but it’s just about as useful. Melly can attest to the truth of today’s verse—but so can the rest of us. When we are faced with circumstances that aren’t going our way, it’s easy to become impatient. Our urgency can lead us to do stupid things.

What a shame! Think of all the time we waste when we let urgency get the better of us and how rarely we do our best thinking when we feel frustrated and pressured. That’s why one of the kindest things we can do for each other as husband or wife is to ease each other’s urgency. How? By lending a listening ear and serving as a solid sounding board. Let’s face it, supposing Melly was married, had his wife been on hand when he was contemplating how to get to Australia, do you think he would have streaked into the news that fateful day at LAX? Doubtful.

Sure, it’s an extreme example, but it makes the point. Marriage provides a built-in mechanism for keeping us sane, if we let it. Think of a time when you were feeling under pressure and made a quick decision or behaved rashly. Wouldn’t you have benefited from the objective ears of your spouse? Never take your spouse for granted. He or she may save you a lot of time, not to mention a lot of shame.

A stitch in time would have confused Einstein.

—Author unknown

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