LRG melts a tiny heart

Sitting in a restaurant's window seat enjoying a meal is a wonderful way to spend time. There's something about the anonymous viewing of folks going about their daily lives that satisfies the soul. Mostly, it's all about people being human; window shopping, walking arm and arm with a lover, talking to friends and running their errands. It's wonderful to notice that what goes on in the world is, for the most part, benign.

Often, when you live too much on a diet of newspapers and T.V. news, one gets the idea that the world in general is rife with violence. We forget that the reason an event becomes "news" is because it is unusual; just a blip in the radar of most peoples daily lives. Think about it. Newspapers would be hundreds of pages long if they told the true story of human life. FATHER TAKES BABY TO PLAYGROUND, MOM WORKS TWO JOBS TO PROVIDE FOR HER KIDS, TWO PEOPLE FELL IN LOVE TODAY--READ ALL ABOUT IT; we don't see headlines like these, and thank goodness. These things happen every day, millions of times. They're not unusual at all.

Back to the restaurant: I had my eye on a young man ambling down the street wearing a baseball cap placed on the side of his head and a black T-shirt with the word LRG on it. Based on what he was wearing, I formed an idea, I admit, about who he was. I pegged him as a defiant, self-involved person who wanted to appear tough.

Coming the other way was a man pushing a woman in a wheelchair. They were approaching the entrance to the restaurant as this young man neared it. The young man suddenly increased his pace, nearly running towards them to intercept their progress. Reaching the entrance a few seconds before they did, he reached out his arm and opened the door for them! Wow.

It was a small gesture, but so telling. I was ashamed of my judgements, and glad that I was wrong about this man. He was LRG all right, but not in the macho way I thought he wanted to be. He was LRG-hearted.

There is something about an unselfish and altruistic act that, when you witness it, feels so warming. How the heart longs for proof that human beings are good, that we live in a caring world, and that life is really wonderful. Our hearts freeze when we read about the brutality that does happen; but when we open our hearts to life as it is being lived all around us, letting go of our assumptions and judgements, we will see many examples of human kindness and compassion.

The Universe sent a very clear message to me today: Let your heart melt, and you will see the world as it truly is in all it's beauty and variety.  I'm going to heed it.
 
Love,
Kristine