California is trying desperately to beat me down. Generally it is working. Alone and homesick, I crave even the slightest display of humanity. Whether it be a smile from a stranger passing me on the street or rarer still, a "hello" or "how are you?", these little niceties seemingly absent from our modern society do wonders for my morale. For work, I sit at a desk in a relatively dark building for about eight hours a day and it is not unusual to pass that entire time without seeing another human being. These factors can give one a rather bleak, pessimistic outlook on life.
Yesterday, I was sitting in my usual position, pondering life and reading articles on the LATimes website. As usual, things were quiet and I had a good deal of downtime. The weight of the world began to bear down on my shoulders, leading me into more and more of a funk. Then the phone rang and I snapped into receptionist mode. "Bubbles Santa Monica, this is Marisa, how may I help you?" instinctively slipped through my lips. "Hey there Marisa, this is Joe. How are you today?" was the jolly response from the male voice on the other end of the telephone line. "Well, I'm alright Joe, how are you today?" I said, trying desperately to expunge the Eeyore-esque gloomy tone from my voice. "Well Marisa, I'm having a truly blessed day, and I hope your day is blessed as well!" Joe exclaimed. That kind of optimism is nothing but infectious. Scrooge himself couldn't respond to Joe with his signature "bah, humbug!" Actually, if Joe had anything to do with A Christmas Carol, I am confident that Scrooge would have come around sooner. But then there would be no story for Dickens to tell. Actually, Scrooge's nephew Fred was about as chalk-full of Christmas cheer as one can be and it still didn't do the trick right away.
Wow, nice tangent Marisa...
Anyways, the point of this is that Joe's phone call brightened my day a bit. It goes to show that small acts of kindness still hold strong as a method to bring a little sunshine into the world. His infectious attitude spread through the electronic waves connecting our phones, and I will try my hardest to bear that attitude with me, no matter how hard things are.
Yesterday, I was sitting in my usual position, pondering life and reading articles on the LATimes website. As usual, things were quiet and I had a good deal of downtime. The weight of the world began to bear down on my shoulders, leading me into more and more of a funk. Then the phone rang and I snapped into receptionist mode. "Bubbles Santa Monica, this is Marisa, how may I help you?" instinctively slipped through my lips. "Hey there Marisa, this is Joe. How are you today?" was the jolly response from the male voice on the other end of the telephone line. "Well, I'm alright Joe, how are you today?" I said, trying desperately to expunge the Eeyore-esque gloomy tone from my voice. "Well Marisa, I'm having a truly blessed day, and I hope your day is blessed as well!" Joe exclaimed. That kind of optimism is nothing but infectious. Scrooge himself couldn't respond to Joe with his signature "bah, humbug!" Actually, if Joe had anything to do with A Christmas Carol, I am confident that Scrooge would have come around sooner. But then there would be no story for Dickens to tell. Actually, Scrooge's nephew Fred was about as chalk-full of Christmas cheer as one can be and it still didn't do the trick right away.
Wow, nice tangent Marisa...
Anyways, the point of this is that Joe's phone call brightened my day a bit. It goes to show that small acts of kindness still hold strong as a method to bring a little sunshine into the world. His infectious attitude spread through the electronic waves connecting our phones, and I will try my hardest to bear that attitude with me, no matter how hard things are.
Wow, sounds like me somedays - just need another adult to raise my spirits!! Or, need a good run to do the same. Thank God for people with joy!! I hope I can bring some of that to the world sometimes.....
ReplyDeleteLove ya!