Now, sixty years later, I am telling people to interrupt. It’s not to share something exciting or to handle an emergency — the interruption I’m talking about is to counter something that is rampant in our culture: rudeness.
And I didn’t go looking for it; it found me.
While on a vacation last year, it became clear to me that people are rude. Store clerks were rude, service was rude, people were rude. There are rude drivers on the road cutting you off, switching lanes right in front of you, and driving two feet behind your bumper just because they are in a hurry. People are rude in the stores you shop. No one greets you as you enter, no one speaks to you as you shop, and no one thanks you for coming in. People are rude in church. You walk through the foyer saying good morning, and they just look at you with no response and keep walking.
The countermeasure to rudeness isn’t raising your voice or being rude back — it’s hospitality, kindness, love, and care.
We can see love in action in the Bible, in the book of Romans 12:9–18. There, the writer gives us actions to take to show love to all. That is the backbone of the interruption I am talking about.
I am giving you permission to interrupt. Interrupt wherever you go. Interrupt the space you occupy.
It may not change the world, but it will change the people you interact with — one by one — and that’s where the difference will come. That’s where rudeness will disintegrate right before your eyes.
Hospitality isn’t a feeling — it’s love in action. So let’s get going.
