I want to talk about something I am calling the Red Carpet Principle for now. This is my own, original thought, inspired by shit happening in my life. Yes, this post will be rough and full of splinters (and swear words.) For once I am writing this while the thoughts about it are still fresh in my head. Guess I can at least do one thing right!
OK, so I still don’t have every nuance in place yet, but here’s the framework and the gist of this principle. The Red Carpet happens when someone does something unexpected for you that’s pretty amazing, even transformational. I will work on this description. But here is an example…
A man is living in a shitty, mold-infested apartment. He has no income or job, his dad has been paying his rent for the last 20 years. This man, of his own volition, with no thought of compensation, decides to help family in the area. So he goes over there, earns a little for mowing the lawn, then begins to help care for an aging member of the family. Not even his family, but someone a member of his family considers to be family. He just does it.
Now this man is not the easiest to live with. He might be bipolar or have other mental issues. Sometimes a switch can flick in his head and he just can’t be talked to or reasoned with. So it’s all the more amazing that suddenly, the member of the family he is ultimately helping by caring for this aging person, offers to let him move in. Of course you know the offer is contingent on the man continuing to help out as he has. But it solves a lot of problems and will make this man’s life better. He can finally get out of his moldy apartment, stop being a drain on his father, and take maybe the first step to earning his keep.
Not the best example, I know, but drawn from real life. Change the details a bit to the man is offered his own house, out of the blue, by a complete stranger. This sort of thing, the whole “Good Samaritan” story perhaps, is what I call the Red Carpet Principle. It happens when something goes out of their way to do something for you, based on something you are doing, or maybe for no obvious reason at all. Someone with no bad intentions who leaves the keys in a brand new car with the title and parks it somewhere, so the first person to come and get it, is also “laying out a red carpet” for whoever comes along and gets the car. Get it?
There are a few rules to the Red Carpet Principle:
1. Whatever is offered is life-changing or transformational. It’s a big thing, it’s huge. It is also truly unexpected.
2. The person to whom it is offered has just been living their life doing their normal thing. They might have been doing something for someone else, but they aren’t expecting any particular thing in return.
3. The person to whom it is offered has not taken direct action or had any sort of intention to acquire this thing. There is no mindset of, “If I do this, then I get that.”
I’ve been thinking about it, and I don’t think I have ever experienced this in my own life. I sacrifice my health, life and time regularly for others, without expectation of any sort of acknowledgement, return or thanks. But I have to admit, sitting here, with my fucked up knee and back, with the shit I have to deal with this month alone, that I am feeling bitter and resentful about that. I am fucking tired of being everyone else’s doormat!
I had an awesome dream last night. I was going to go back to college, and ended up the guest of HeavyD (a YouTuber) who, in the dream, had built this huge trailer or something and was traveling around the country. Somehow I got on, and I even earned a strip of purple scotch tape signifying I had done or paid for something related to all of this. I wore it proudly on my t-shirt as I explored the huge thing. It had a theater in it, you could get food, there were gift packages you could buy for others, bundles that said things like, “Our Philosophy” and showed a picture of HeavyD. I wanted to buy some but I guess I had no money. However I could enjoy whatever I wanted on this huge craft.
I am not a huge fan of HeavyD. I like his mindset and want to learn from that. I would like to someday attend one of these Mormon (officially The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or The Church) gatherings he talks about where they just talk about stuff. I might like that, if the rest of the folk there could tolerate that I am not, and never intend to be, a part of their faith and that some of the things I want to talk about they might find challenging. Basically HeavyD seems like a nice guy, someone I could learn a lot from, and he is an excellent role model for me of someone who is making the things happen they want to happen.
I woke up, got some shitty news, had the thought about the red carpet, and wanted to just go back to sleep. Go back to that dream. Because the reality of my life fucking sucks.
So… Has the Red Carpet Principle ever been active in your own life, either on the giving or receiving end? Comment below and tell us about it.
Bliss Writer 