The Nosy Neighbor

You may remember the very nice man who so bored the shit out of me that rather than continuing to allow him to join me - over and over and over - on my beach walk and bore the shit out of me I began driving several miles out of my way to walk - alone, all by myself, no one else around - and save myself the irritation of his self-contained droning on and on and on?

Well, he moved and doesn't come to the meeting very much anymore, except on Monday when he's the meeting secretary.  He'll take his dog for a walk afterwards where I'll often run into him.  Today, while I was petting his dog - who I honestly find a lot more entertaining than him - he told me a long tale of a nosy neighbor that lives next door to him at his new place and the great lengths he's going to avoid this guy  .  .  .

I'm never sure who's learning the lesson in these interactions except to say that it's always me.  Do you know how badly I wanted to interrupt this guy and point out the blazing hypocrisy of his screed.  He wasn't really upset about it, reacting in a good-natured way, but he clearly didn't want to . . .  you know . . . have to talk with him or listen to him or walk with him on the beach.  I'm struck by how righteous my evasive behavior is with Boring Beach Guy and how righteous I feel when I notice the exact same behavior in someone else.  The lessons I learn and how The Teacher imparts this wisdom to me!  I think: "Wow, it must be this obvious to someone else when I blather on about behavior in someone else that annoys me when I'm displaying the exact same behavior."