W-O-W!

We're back in Ohio, again, until after the wedding.  It was a long trip and we must be getting old because we stopped on the way back to Florida and on the way back to Ohio (but that was because it was storming pretty bad).  Anyway - on to the point of this new blog post.

There are just some things in the world that make a person want to say "Wow!" Sometimes those things are "Wow, please never do that again" or "Wow, that was really amazing!"  Prior to returning to Ohio, three of the instances of "Wow, that was really amazing!" happened.

The first was in Florida.  We had canceled our cable and Internet the day before because we aren't really going to be in the apartment much until we move out of the apartment - but anyway!  While standing in the line to return our equipment for the Internet service, two women and three kids were in front of us.  Two of the kids were older - 7 or 8 years old - and the smallest one was maybe 3.  The two older kids were fighting over who would get to hold her or hold her hand, but they were pulling on her and kicking and hitting each other (as well as the little girl) while the two women ignored them.  From the back of the line a woman says "Guys, you need to stop.  You're hurting her."  The two women gave this lady a death glare and then picked the little girl up, after the lady said "That's not very nice."  I wanted to walk back and give her a high five.  It was awesome!  Really people, please learn to control your children (or at least pay attention to your children) while in public.

The second thing we saw was a teenager holding a door open for an elderly man who was disabled and using a cane.  Some of you might be thinking "Why is this such a 'wow' moment?"  To that I say - this was your typical teenager.  She had to be fifteen or sixteen years old with the "I only care about myself" look to her.  iPod in her pocket, one headphone in her ear kind of teenager.  The turning point was as she was exiting the rest area, she saw this elderly man coming and held the door open for him because he was having so much trouble.  The part that pissed me off was this man walked right in, didn't look at her, didn't say thank you...not a single word of acknowledgment.  Guess what the girl did!  She smiled at us and held the door open for us too.  That is not something you see very often from teenagers - believe it - I teach the youngest group of teenagers and maybe five out of one hundred and twenty-two of them held the door for me all year!

The third "wow" moment made me want to get out of my car, walk one mini-van back and shake the guys hand.  Traffic in Dayton, ten minutes from home, was backed up like crazy as construction is being done on I-75.  There is a part of the highway that has a sign saying "Left lane ends ahead, merge right."  Now, maybe it's just me, but instead of trying to get as far up as I possibly can, I start merging as soon as I see the sign.  Forgiveness for those who see it and drive two cars up, I can stand - but people who fly past you and try to get as far forward as possible, really make me angry.  One because a lot of the time I've already been waiting in traffic for twenty minutes and at that point I'm right at the point when the lane ends and two it is just plain rude.  The wow moment came when a 18-wheeler pulled in to the left lane that was ending and blocked it off so people couldn't fly all the way forward.  He didn't try to get in front of anyone, he stayed behind the mini-van but just sat in the left lane.  On occasions he would drive down the dashed line, but most of the time he stayed in the left lane.  It was AWESOME...but John wouldn't let me get out and high-five him because it would have stalled traffic more.

Anyway - moments like this where someone turns your whole view of the world is upside down.  It makes me proud that people still try to be good and honest and helpful.  Even if the moment only last, well a moment, it is still an awesome thing to see.  I encourage you guys to go out and look for these "Wow" moments, or maybe create one of your own, because you never know who might be watching or whose life you may change :)