Pay It Forward

Every day on my drive to work I pass countless school bus stops. I always look (and get a little teary) imagining my kids waiting there, and sneering at the idiot parents that are too lazy to walk their kids to the bus stop and are sitting in their SUVs with the heat running wasting all kinds of gas and polluting our air more than necessary..but I digress. I pass a lot of bus stops. Right. Well, this morning at one of these bus stops there was a boy, probably in 5th grade (he was really tall, and I know they're elementary schoolers because some of them are wearing backpacks that are bigger than them!), standing at the bus stop smiling and waving at every single car that drove by. People were honking and waving. It just made me smile. Then it got me thinking...if something as simple as a wave can make someone smile, why is it so unusual for things like that to happen? Classic example: Wawa (for those of you that don't live in the PA area, this is like a Tom Thumb with a sandwich shop inside...they're fabulous. I fully intend to open one on Pensacola Beach, make my millions, and retire young.) I always hold the door if someone is coming out while I'm going in or vice versa. People always look so shocked and are ridiculously grateful at this simple gesture. Have we as a society become so self-centered that holding the door for someone is worthy of such thanks? That's just sad. So, I challenge you, cyber-stalkers, to commit some random acts of kindness this weekend. Let that person trying to merge into traffic get in front of you. Hold the door for the person behind you (even if it means standing there for a second or two). Smile at a stranger. You never know how terrible that person's day may have been up to that moment...you could be the high point of their day.