Kindness is Always the Right Path

Let me start by telling you this is not what I had intended to write about this week, but after several twist and turns on Tuohy Turnpike 101, I did a Dukes of Hazard slide and changed directions.

First, I never imagined so many of you would enjoy my blog post on the time spent in the ladies' room last Sunday. I'm so glad some of you enjoyed the experience, even if you were living vicariously through me. Secondly, you are not aware of this' but AARP has this little button in AARP land and the button has a label that reads, "Leigh Anne's Sensor button" and each week when I turn in my blog, they have to use that little button numerous times - sad but true. Last week they pushed that little button many, many times just so my blog received a rating acceptable for our readers! My husband is in current negotiations with them to try and secure the future rights to that button. He might have to trade Collins and a future first round draft choice, but he thinks it would be worth his future peace of mind.

Ok, so back to the ladies' room for just a quick button up.  There was definitely one thing that I took away from that experience as I reflected back over that day. That take away was how level the playing field becomes in a setting like the ladies' room at a football stadium. Suddenly, it didn't matter what your socioeconomic status was, your color, faith, type of car you drove to the game, where your seats were located, etc....everyone in that space had common goals. We were all equal.

Recently, I spoke in North Dakota. We had been scheduled to speak earlier in the year and the event was canceled due to flooding of the town . The town was bringing us in to speak because they had a sudden population explosion resulting from the discovery of oil in the area. They had brought in thousands of workers to do all the manual labor. Their housing conditions were inadequate, and they were being treated very poorly. Suddenly this flash flood came upon the entire town, and it suddenly mattered not who you were, where you were from, what you lived in or drove or if you were educated. This disaster made everyone equal. It leveled the playing field.

Don't wait for a disaster to be kind to people. My thinking is that we should be polite to all people, especially the rude ones not because we are wanting to convert rude people into nice people, but first and foremost because we are nice, and that is what nice people do. Don't let bad behavior rub off on us!

Now one last thing about my blog from last week, the responses I have received have mostly made me giggle out loud. I believe for my female ego the one that I found most entertaining was one gentleman who posted to the AARP site. He felt, which is his right as an American, that it was ridiculous when important things such as Social Security and Medicare were in jeopardy that they would have a cute little blonde ...a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader type blog for them. Please someone find that man and let me hug his neck! He can do my intro anytime he wants. It will be just my luck that he has sight issues.

However, I do appreciate the adjectives he selected in my description. I also understand what he was trying to say. AARP, like other companies, has numerous tentacles that touch many different entities, and yet they are thought of in correlation with Social Security and Medicare. There are some very serious issues in this country that should take a front seat to my afternoon in the ladies' room. I think everyone in this country is aware of that. We are also aware of the money being spent, or wasted is a better word, week end and week out on this upcoming election, where grown men act like first graders on a playground and call each other names and point fingers. If we took the millions and millions and millions of dollars they are wasting, then we could probably house every homeless person in this country!

We are also aware that people will spend money betting on the Super Bowl Sunday. I believe the number I saw was over 90 million would be bet just through Vegas and that number would be even greater through offshore sites. Can you imagine what could be done with that amount of money? Every child in this country might go to bed with a full belly and our elderly might live out their final years in comfort and with dignity. We all know that is not reality. So yes, you are all entitled to an opinion about what I write and the freedom to express it. But remember, it takes everyone getting involved to make a difference. Your sitting down and reeling off a response to a blog is not going to change anything; it just takes up time. 

My blogs are hopefully meant to inspire and give you a glimpse into my world. This past week has made me more aware than ever that we all are passionate about different things, and that is good. If every person on this Earth were passionate about the exact same thing then there would be a vast amount of work left to be done. We all have that inner voice and a string that supposedly pulls on our heart when we see something that we feel is being neglected or needs attention. My advice to you is don't let the noise from others' passions and opinions drown out yours. We need to all be loud and proud about what we hope to accomplish and don't let others drag us down. M.H. McKee said, "Wisdom is knowing the right path to take and integrity is actually taking it." Take the right path and be kind to everyone along the way!    

Photo credit by:  slack12

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