One Moment
Today, in the great wide world of web, I stumbled across someone I knew in high school. She wasn't really a friend, really barely more than an acquaintance. We had lockers right next to each other in ninth grade. She was gorgeous and popular, and I was less-so on both counts. All these years later, the only thing I distinctly remember about her - the thing that comes to my mind when I think about her - is a random morning when she was kind to me. It was nothing major... she didn't pull my foot out of a bear trap or go out of her way to say something when I was having a bad day. It was just an ordinary day, our paths crossed when we both happened to be getting into our lockers, and she took the time to ask how I was doing. On top of that, she cared about my answer.
Like I said, it was just an extra few seconds out of her day. I wasn't feeling bad about myself (not at that moment, not that I remember), and there was nothing extraordinary about the conversation itself. But more than 15 years later, when I saw her name, I got that same warm feeling and it made me smile all over again.
No matter how small you might think a gesture is, or how insignificant it might seem to stop and say hello, you never know what will stick with someone.
Like I said, it was just an extra few seconds out of her day. I wasn't feeling bad about myself (not at that moment, not that I remember), and there was nothing extraordinary about the conversation itself. But more than 15 years later, when I saw her name, I got that same warm feeling and it made me smile all over again.
No matter how small you might think a gesture is, or how insignificant it might seem to stop and say hello, you never know what will stick with someone.