There are opportunities that present themselves every day. Helping a mother with her hands full of kids to her car with groceries, thanking the bus driver for a safe trip, not being impatient with the newly-hired temp Holiday season staff. This week, I thanked a man at our tax office for the fact that the tax system runs so smoothly where I live and that I didn’t have to wait even 30 seconds to get in to see someone. He gave me a sincere and surprised smile.
I recently started a job as an substitute for early childhood care and education. Every day, I find dozens of things to do to help the kids in extra ways as well as the staff who do it on a permanent basis. What happened in Connecticut affected a dear friend of mine who lives in the next town over with 4 children of his own. It has made me more mindful, but I don’t know if it will inspire extra. I can’t be that objective about what I do, or, I guess, more to the point, why I do it.