Day 109k: The compassion in every Commoner … (August 16, 2019)
I make it past the town of Elizabeth, where I am coldly rejected by both a local Dunkin Donuts & Papa John’s Pizza joint – neither of which could muster the decency to even offer a pilgrim a glass of water. And yet though I was deeply saddened by this inexcusable display of cold-heartedness, my spirits were warmed anew very shortly thereafter. I really was quite thirsty at the time, and headed into a neighboring T-Mobile store to see if a a glass of water could be procured. Much to my delighted surprise, Antonia (the T-Mobile employee on hand) was deeply moved by my Walk and took me to a nearby quick-mart to buy me some peanuts and orange juice. Then, unbeknownst to me, the quick-mart employee who had also heard about my Journey immediately called her husband Rafael who was working nearby; a husband who was equally moved by my Walk – so much so that he found out from her where I was walking, drove ahead of my route to wait for me to pass by, and then embraced me warmly and offered to buy me a Subway sandwich for lunch (!!!) …
“What I am suggesting is that each of us turn from the negativism that permeates our society and look instead for the remarkable Good among those with whom we associate, that we speak of one another’s virtues more than we speak of one another’s faults, that optimism replace our pessimism, that our faith exceed our fears. When I was a young man and prone to speak critically, my father would often quite correctly remind me that ‘cynics do not contribute, skeptics do not create, and doubters do not achieve.’ He was right, of course, and we would all do well to each day remember the same.” ~ via Gordon B. Hinckley
;