A Little Thing

Last week I was up and out of the house early to drop a couple pieces of mail in the mailbox a few blocks from my house. I was looking ahead to all I had to do that day—not much of it pleasant—and as a result I was already in a gloomy mood. I was steeling myself for the day.

I parked the car and walked to the mailbox, and as I dropped the mail through the slot, I heard a cheery “Good morning!” I turned—on the off chance this happy voice was addressing me—and saw a man, maybe in his late sixties, heading for the same mailbox. Mail in hand, arms swinging, he smiled broadly at me. I replied with my own “Good morning!” and headed back to my car. Grinning.

We didn’t have a conversation at the mailbox, nothing more than a smile and a “Good morning” passed between us. But that man made my morning. And he got me thinking. Maybe if we realized that one smile or a couple of kind words could make such a difference in someone’s day, we’d be more willing to sprinkle those smiles and words around.

There are times when we feel we have nothing to offer. We’re drained ourselves and don’t have a drop to spare, or maybe we’re just in the kind of mood I was that morning and don’t see why we should spare a drop. I wonder what kind of day that man was facing. It might not have been any better than mine. It might have been worse.

It was such a little thing, but here I am, days later, thinking and writing about it.

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