True Love of Coffee

I don’t think about who I should say it to, rather I think about who I feel it for. Some are people I know as friends. Some are family. Some are people who I love; some are people that I’ve never met. I think of the little boy at the super market, or the old lady I open the door for. I wonder about the young teenager collecting signatures for a local ballot or the ambulance driver as I watch the spinning lights pass me when I’m driving. I pause for second and think to myself; ‘there is a strange variety of people in the world I care about’.

I wonder, could I tell them that I care? Would there be enough moments in my life to share a brief and honest feeling with them, that the world isn’t full of shadows and puppets walking down the street with faceless expressions that hide such colourful souls?

I don’t know.

I tell myself that life is different. At least I try to make my life as different as I can. As people focus on pointless objects of greed and lose themselves wandering in a world of abstract thought, I stop and think. I take a breath. I decide to make a difference.

I take a moment to make eye contact with the cashier as he hands me my change and say thank you with every ounce of sincerity, pausing long enough he realizes I really mean it. I kneel down to the child being ignored by her mom and stick my tongue out and giggle, knowing that there is an innocent spirit needing some attention. I insist thath the kind old gentleman sit down as he struggles to reach his feet, and I retrieve his cup of coffee at the café when his name is called; hoping that my act of kindness revives a youthful expectation there are still good things in the world.

I believe that people can make a difference. It is not accidental or easy. It takes effort and challenge. For every simple action, there is a time that we can inspire other people with honest goodwill. It is in the daily action of our lives that we have the ability to become something better, and it is in the average opportunity that we have a chance to make something amazing happen. Whether in happy or sad times, our personal dedication to helping those around us is what defines our ‘humanity’. We all have unique opportunities in life to touch the people around us and hopefully we don’t waste those chances to make a positive impact.

If you are on my friends list, I’ve honestly given you more than a moment of thought. There isn’t a person on my account here that hasn’t received some form of personalized attention. We all have our merits and flaws, we all have crazy lives, and without doubt we are all human.

To all my friends in cyberspace, this is Barry saying I care.