For the last seven years, I've been traveling into my New York city office by means of Metro North trains. I've seen an extensive variety of commuters and conductors; mostly irritated, exhausted and over-worked. Every so often, though, there is a booming voice of one conductor who never fails to smile, questioning how your morning is (or how your day was) and crack a one-liner or some other jovial antic. He takes an interest in your occupation, relating and sharing of himself. It was about two years ago that he started conducting my route on my return to the suburbs in the evenings. We would chit-chat and converse about the day's happenings, and giving little thought to this exchange of dialogue, I'd step off at the platform, flutter my hand in a wave and with the click of my boots, I'd wander about my evening. Shortly after I had gotten accustomed to seeing him on my return trip home, he disappeared. It wasn't until almost a year later after running into him on a trip at an odd time home, I came to discover that his route had been changed.
Now, this was by no means a devastation, however, I took notice as to how my ride became bleaker in the days that he was not a part of it. His jet-black thick rimmed glasses and contagious laugh paired with my morning thermos of java goodness established such a positive beginning to my day. And reversely, with his lighthearted nature, he became a consistent fixture in my unwinding from the happenings of my previous eight hours .
This past week, he was placed back on my route and I decided to express to him how I felt about his infectious positive essence, and the influence it has on my day. And you know what? Beyond the fact that he was really touched, I too, was really glad that I chose not to keep this to myself. People deserve to be acknowledged for their goodness. So often I am fixated on the flaws and distastes that I have for others, and it's decidedly infrequent that I articulate the good.
Goodness, I've learned, is just as abundant as it's counterpart... and it always prevails. It's up to us to continue to gingerly lay the kindling between the logs, add crumpled remnants of yesterday's news, and give breath to the fire of goodness, to ensure it radiates enough warmth to ignite the world.
No comments