Humanity

There's been a lot of ugliness going around the internet and the world lately, and it's really easy to get bogged down by genuinely nasty behavior as well as the general asshattery that one encounters on any given day in a city of any considerable size. But a few things have happened in the last couple of days that have restored a bit of my faith in the general goodness of people.

(1) I was driving home from work yesterday (after being unexpectedly offered an afternoon off) when the gangsta-looking guy in front of me slowed and then stopped his car in the middle of the block. Just as I was saying "Dude, what the hell?" I saw the squirrel he'd stopped to avoid squashing go sprinting out from in front of his tires.

(2) Last night at the grocery, I was pushing Nico in his stroller while MB had the cart. A little boy, maybe five years old, broke away from his parents and trotted over to us as we passed. He swung close and leaned down to put his face near Nico's. Before I had a chance to worry, he hollered "Have a nice, safe ride!" and ran off.

(3) (my favorite) A local thrift store moved to a new location and had their grand opening today. I stopped by with Nico after story time this morning and picked out a few shirts for him before noticing that the line was long and moving very, very slowly. I hadn't brought the stroller, so I was holding him with one increasingly achy arm and trying to keep the clothes hangers out of reach of his mouth with the other hand. As our time in line stretched on toward 15 minutes, Nico started to get understandably fussy. And then the old man in line behind us started mugging for him, turning his ball cap sideways, making goofy faces, doing a little shuffly dance, keeping it up until Nico's whining gave way to grins.

It's nice to be reminded that sometimes people are decent just for decency's sake.



Reading:  The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Playing:  Sigh No More by Mumford & Sons