Day 12-What you believe

I believe that people can change.  I believe that there is good in all of us.....although it may be a smaller amount in some people, I believe that it is there.  It is a very naive belief to have, and I have learned that it is hard to keep this belief as I get older.  It's funny, because I don't remember having this belief when I was younger, but it has developed through my 20's.  Maybe that is because I grew up a lot over the past 8 years and I have had a lot of experiences that tell me that people (as a mass) just are completely selfish and uncompassionate.  It seems as though "they" just don't care about anyone.  And I know that sometimes I fall into that category.  Maybe I want to be naive in my belief so that my son grows up thinking that the world is not a big selfish evil place where people would rather step on you while you are down then help pick you up.  Caring for a stranger, although it may be minute, is important and I believe that it can help change the outcome of another person's day, which could make them do something small for another person the next day.  I try to teach Parker that the little things you do for a stranger is one of the best ways to be helpful.  Like the other day we were at Panera and there was a mom with three children, probably 7, 4 and 18 months.  They all sat nicely at the table but when they called her name for her food, she scooped up the baby and would have had to make 4 trips for the food with one hand available.  I asked if I could help, she said oh no that's okay (which is something that I have said many times when a stranger has offered help to me and Parker), and I said I would love to help you out.  So I did.  I was a little pushy about it and she said Thank you, maybe she was annoyed or grateful...I don't know.  I do know she was able to sit sooner with her children and enjoy her meal with her family.  Parker asked me why I did that and I told him just to helpful to someone else.

There are good individuals in the world.  I know a lot of them, but it is the people we don't know that we tend to not care about and why don't we care?  We are too consumed in our own busy lives and we can not be blamed for that, but because of that, our mass of people have turned from good individuals to a crappy whole.  I believe that can change but only through random acts of kindness I guess.  I don't really know how it can change, but I believe it can.