Pray for Those Who Are a Nuisance to You

Norman Vincent Peale is a well-known author of books on self-improvement. Once, while in northern Italy with his wife, he visited Stresa and stayed at a beautiful hotel on Lake Maggiore. Stresa is one of the loveliest and most peaceful places in Europe, and on the first night, Peale went to bed expecting a restful night’s sleep.

Unfortunately, the hotel was situated on the main road that skirted the great lake. Soon, a constant and unending stream of noisy Vespa and Lambretta two-wheelers had turned the night into bedlam. Peale lay in bed hoping for just one brief interlude of silence, but none ever came. The noise was always either trailing off, or coming up, or bursting upon him in devastating power.

Soon, he was getting mad at the insensitive noise-makers. He rose and slammed the window shut. But then the room grew incredibly hot. Peale sighed; it was either heat or noise, or both. Plugging his ears with cotton did not help either. He tossed restlessly in bed and with mounting asperity told his wife exactly what he thought of people who raced all night without regard for those who were just trying to sleep.

His wife suggested that he do something. He followed her suggestion and slept until eight-thirty in the morning.