“Good morning!” the gentleman who looked to be past his seventies greeted everyone as he walked into the coffee shop that I happened to be perched, to work on a writing project at 7:00 am. He was way too happy and way too loud this early in the morning; which annoyed me – just a little. Then he walked over to me and got in my face and said, “have a nice day!”
I looked at him as kindly as possible, hoping to shorten the encounter, and said, “you have a good day, too!”
Oh no! He took that as an invitation. Buggers!
“You know, six years ago, I had a brain hemorrhage and lost most of my memory. My memory returned slowly, and about a year ago, I was told I’m back to my old-self!”
I didn’t ask for this… but I wanted to be kind, so I gave him my full attention – sort of…
“I understood then that I was given a second chance at life. Since then, I decided that I would bless at least five people a day.”
Wow! A dagger to my heart! My perception of this man was turned completely upside down at this point. He no longer annoyed me. Rather, I was annoyed with myself for being so self-absorbed.
“It doesn’t take a a whole lot to bless people, you know. It’s the friendly greetings. It’s holding the door for someone. It’s millions of little things. It’s simply noticing people and being kind to them in little things.”
Little things. Noticing little things. Acting on little things. Changing perspective. Not being self-absorbed, but seeing things around us. Pausing just long enough to take in the blessing that is in front of us. Giving a friendly stranger our full attention. Simple things.
I learned his name – Arnold.
“Thank you, Arnold, for blessing me this morning!”
AKorDian 