The good and the bad

Sometimes this world seems filled with the ignorant and the arrogant. Bullies who try to make the world their way either through manipulation or terrorism. People who are only out for themselves. Sometimes it seems as though these are the only people in this world. Sometimes it pays to remember that they aren't the only ones and that they aren't even a majority.

There are people in this world who grace us with their generosity of heart, impress us with their courage or just make us smile. Big gestures, small kindnesses.

There's the man who turned back to open and hold the door this morning when my hands were full; the greasy haired, skinny, leather-jacketed man I might have crossed the road to avoid if I'd come across him on a dark night but who smiled and spoke gently as I ducked under his arm.

The person who picked up a lost glove and put it on a nearby windowsill for the owner to come back and find.

The mand who looked after my grandfather as he was suffering a heart-attack, decades ago, and cared for him until the ambulance arrived.

The ladies who helped my grandmother the other year when she had a nasty fall in the street.

My cousin who was told she had a year to live; who turned down all treatment and spent the rest of her time l-i-v-i-n-g! Miss you girl!

The lady in my grandmother's sheltered accomodation who cooks for herself every day...and cooks enough to share around whoever most needs a meal that day. Whose grandchildren adore her and go with her to help weeding, planting or anything else someone may need done.

The stranger who smiles in the street.

The truck driver in the Canadian Rockies who stopped to help when I'd broken down on a hillside, in the middle of a forest, in the middle of no-where. Who said he'd report to the motorhome hire company when he got back to base and then make sure one of the other truckers heading back this way would let me know to reassure me it was done. Sure enough, an hour later, a truck slowed down on it's way past, the horn sounded and the driver frantically waved a thumbs-up as he went past. He checked up on me later through the CB radio with the tow-truck driver to make sure I'd been rescued ok.

My lovely, serene and beautiful aunt who has only a few months to live has also turned down painful and debilitating treatment in order to spend the time she has left enjoying the company of her husband, family and friends. No regrets she says, she's had a wonderful life and a wonderful marriage.

The couple who took a lonely traveller under their wing for a day, never having met her before.

The friend who listens.

Old people, young people, people near and people far away. People in my life now and people I used to know. There are far more kind, generous and friendly people, or just plain ok people than there are of the other kind. If that's so in my little world, why should it be otherwise elsewhere?

Look around you folks, can you see more good than bad? I hope so.