I was headed into New York yesterday to meet some friends for lunch and to see the Broadway show The Cottage. For me, on that rainy day, it was like a shorter version of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. My version was Walk, Ferry, and Bus. The free bus from the Ferry Terminal is a bit of a mystery to me. Routes seems to change and bus drivers have been mean, so it’s not a mode of transportation that I look forward to at all.

Yesterday my bus ride started out no differently. A woman on the bus asked if she could get off at 8th Avenue. The bus driver said it was not a stop. They bantered back and forth until he opened the door and basically told her to get out, which she gladly did. Fearful that I was not going to be allowed off at my stop, I slide up into the first seat and ask the bus driver if I could get off at 45th and 6th. He was as nice as pie and said, “Absolutely dear, you can get off wherever you want.” I explained how I got concerned given his last exchange, and he said, “She was mean! Had she been nice, I would have let her off wherever she wanted.” I chuckled quietly and he and I had a lovely conversation about life until my stop.

I could have just as easily been on the other end of that exchange. I could have been, “that woman.” Thankfully, yesterday, I wasn’t. Today is simply a reminder that we get more flies with honey than we do with vinegar. Be kind whenever possible, and it’s always possible, said the Dalai Lama. It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice, said John Templeton. And when you are kind to others, it not only changes you, it changes the world, professed Harold Kushner. Be kind. It matters.

Let’s GO! WE GOT THIS!
Beth