Compliments of Steven

A friend of mine posted this as a Facebook note. I really appreciated his thoughts, and thought I'd share them with you. I promise that I will try to post my thoughts on Fireproof (among other things) later this week, probably Thursday. And now, may I present steven's note:




"This morning something interesting happened to me. I was running late for school and I passed this one guy on the side walk. I had seen him before (usually when I'm late) and it was the same as always, He says "Good Morning" and "Have a good day", and I do the same out of politeness. But this morning there was something different. I had been having a really bad morning, and those of you who have been around me this past weekend know that I've been under a lot of stress. But after a simple "good morning" I was feeling relieved. All it took was a simple, genuine, no-strings-attached, non-forced, friendly "good morning"That got me thinking, is that really all it takes? All he did was say "good morning" and "have a good day" and it brightened up my day. How much more joy would there be in the world today if strangers just did this one simple thing for each other? It's not much, just one little greeting. And yet just think of the impact it could have on someone. It isn't really that much, it takes almost no effort. If all of this is true then why do we go to so much trouble to avoid eye contact when we see someone else walking in our direction. What has happened when being unfriendly is the norm? Now I thought that was it, my little "epiphany" (if you can even call it that) was over. But there was still more. I was late for school, something that would normally stress me out a little (this meant another morning detention), but it didn't. Now for those of you who don't go to school in Howard County there is something you need to understand. The Howard County school system has been trying to promote civility among students, so every Monday the principal gives a civility "rule" for the week.Well I was in line at the attendance window near the front office where they do the morning announcements. I looked in and saw that out principle was reading the civility rule out of a book! How ironic is it that the administration that is supposed to be promoting this knows so little about it that they have to read it out of a book.This sort of thing shouldn't even have to be necessary. People should know how to act by high school and nobody ever even listens to the announcements. Being friendly isn't something that should have to be taught and forced on someone. If you make someone be friendly an courteous it completely misses the point. As much as we make excuses about how what a difference can I, just one person, make. I can tell you that it really can make a difference in someone's life, at the very least someone's day. I really don't know how to end this, but I do have one thing left to say. I think the Black Eyed Peas song "Where is the Love?" sums up my point entirely, and if you haven't heard it yet you really should: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojpbOJjrGBQ"