A Life in Optimism

I have some old stories I've been meaning to tell you.

1. At Catsitting, the bus stop is down the street. One morning I went out and the bus passed in front of me -- doh! I was late! I didn't bother to run cause I knew I wouldn't make it. But then the bus sat there, and people were getting on very slowly. So I ran, and I made it on. After I settled, I noticed a man near me who didn't have enough change for the bus, and only a $20 -- the woman he was with was searching through her wallet, trying to find more. So I gave him the change he needed. I realized a minute later that it was because of him that the bus had been held up, and I'd been able to make it. What a great example of... good karma? Not quite. Synchronicity? No. Paying it forward? No--paying it backward! I realized there's such thing as unwittingly paying someone back for a favor they never even knew they'd granted you, and paying them in the currency of that favor. It was like time traveling.

2. I may have told this one already, I can't remember. I was waiting at the bus stop to go BACK to cat sitting, on that weird night we had this spring where it was a slushy snowfall. I was chatting with an Indian woman at the bus stop, about the weather and such. As the bus pulled up, she looked across the 4-way intersection and said--There's my neighbour, she's trying to make the bus! She's quite old!

This intersection is always busy, even at night--you can't really jaywalk it, you have to wait for the walkee light. And the walkee light was just ending as this old woman started furiously hobbling into the road. The light turned against her, but still she hobbled on, determined to get across in time.

The Nice Indian Lady told the bus driver, and made sure that he waited for her. And when they got off (at my stop) the NIL took the old lady by the arm, and walked her home.

3. Today I was in the grocery store. I picked up a see-through container of dates for $3. An older gentleman, in a white, Middle Eastern sort of outfit, moved towards the dates--so I shuffled over to make room for the fellow date lover. He picked up a package of dates, inspected it, and then told me--the one you have is empty on this side, take this one instead, it's fuller. (Something like that.)

Now then. Don't stories #2 and 3 make you feel like there are still a lot of really nice people in this world? Who make sure their neighbors get home safe, and their fellow shoppers get best value for $3? Doesn't it give you hope? It does for me. I get all warm and gooshy inside.