My second greatest joy is when something good happens to other people. I really don't care who, and I don't mean they just won the jackpot on Price is Right. I wrote a young woman with whom I had worked many years ago and had not had any contact with since. At the time, she was finding marriage a very difficult endeavor. She wrote back and talked mostly about her family and how happy she was now in her marriage. The joy I felt lasted several days. There is just nothing better than seeing joy come into other people's lives. I work a horribly mundane job. Most people look at those of us that do my work as some kind of lower form of life. I am just grateful to be able to go to work each day and enjoy the company of the people I work with. When I work at the customer service desk, as I sometimes must, I look closely at every person that walks up to me. I try very diligently to feel the spirit to see if there is anything I can say, in an appropriate way, to make their day a little better. Most of the time nothing comes to mind, but once in a while I am given the right thing to say. A girl came to the desk to cash a check. She was on the phone with someone and having a very bad conversation. She got off and I asked for her ID. She was very belligerent in giving it to me. I looked at the picture, and then at her, and then back at the picture. I looked at her and asked her if the girl in the picture was really her. She said something about, "Who did I think it looked like?" I said it was hard to tell because the girl in the picture was smiling and could she help me out by smiling for me. She looked at me like I was out of my head for a second and then smiled, first just with her mouth, but when I smiled back, the smile came from way down inside. WOW! that sounded like a lot of bragging, and I really, truly, hate that. I'm just saying, nothing brings me more joy than seeing joy come into the lives of others. If I can help in some small, insignificant way, I will try and do it. Pass it on.
PS - Here's the rub. If I really care about bringing joy to others, why don't I remember anybody's birthday, even after Heidi makes me a beautiful birthday calendar. I should work as hard for my family as I do for strangers.
