"The Precious Ones"

I've decided that the following is absolutely true: Good people make our world livable. They are like the CIA or the Secret Service, keeping all of us safe from becoming angry people who drink coffee infused with bitterness and kick puppies. But unfortunately, like members of the CIA or the Secret Service, they usually go unnoticed. Too often they are overlooked, maybe because they are shy, maybe because they are just surrounded by so many loud personalities that their quiet comforts simply cannot be heard.

I was surprised by two people's kindness today, and both I had previously overlooked. First was Brett, a nice kid who is the teacher's assistant in the class before mine. After class I was chatting with my teacher, as I sometimes do, and she says to me, "Katherine, look at what Brett gave me." She pulls out a large jar full of different kinds of teas and a large tin of Starbuck's hot cocoa. I was amazed. It was such a generous and thoughtful gift (my teacher loves teas and all that stuff). And then she looks to me and says, "You know, teachers aren't paid a whole lot, but look at what we get." She wasn't talking just about the tea and cocoa, but "the precious ones." The students like Brett who do thoughtful and caring things like that, just to make her day.

Next was Alex, who ran up to one of our classmates after class today (this I was later told about from said classmate). Alex had heard about her grandmother being hospitalized and took the time to find her and tell her, "Hey, I heard about your grandma, I hope she gets better soon. I'm praying for her." Such a simple thing, takes two seconds, but it really meant a lot to her to hear him say that.

I think it's tragic that things like this go unnoticed. But people like Alex and Brett, they aren't in it for the recognition, they don't even know that I noticed what they did today. They don't even know how much their kindness and generosity really meant to my teacher, my classmate, or especially me. And I think that's just the way they like it.

So I'd like to end this post with this: there are good people out there, and there is always hope to be had. Not all of the human population are greedy pigs, some of us have actually overcome the porkiness. I just hope I can follow their subtle examples. And like Ellen DeGeneres says at the end of every one of her shows: be kind.
~Kat