Charming Seaweed

Charming:  (Of a person): polite, friendly, and likable. 

"Live for some purpose greater than yourself.  Each day you will have something to work for.  You have received so much from The Program that you should have a vision that gives your life a direction and a purpose that gives meaning to each new day.  Let us not slide along through life.  Let us have a purpose for each day and let us make that purpose for something greater than just ourselves."

First of all, I'd like to dispute the notion that there is something greater than myself.  This is illogical.  I will concur that I have received so much from The Program.  This is indisputable.  I've received almost everything of worth in my life because I've chose to walk - however haltingly and stumblingly - on a spiritual path.  This has indeed given me a direction and a purpose to my life even when I find myself pointed in the wrong direction.

This idea of not sliding through life is an interesting one, too.  One of my quick Quiet Time affirmations is that I'm shown how I can be of service to one other person today.  Few and far in-between are the days when my Higher Power doesn't place someone in my path.  Often it's a simple, brief interaction.  Long ago I quit looking for the big splash.  The big splashes are few and far in-between.

To wit: SuperK and I were at our coffee shop recently when we offered one of the chairs at our table to a woman who was expecting a number of friends.  She thanked us politely and took the chair.  As she was carrying it to her table I quipped: "I'm not going to help you move the chair or anything, but you can have it."  She told me she had three sons so she wasn't surprised by this.  As we left I leaned over her shoulder, interrupting the conversation at her table, and said: "I'm sorry - are you using this chair?" . . . indicating the chair she was sitting in.  I flatter myself that I have a goofy charm that allows me to get away with this kind of banter - I think people like to be surprised or taken aback at something an adult would say in polite society.  

The point, anyway, is that this was attempt to put a smile on a stranger's face, maybe to make their day a sliver more interesting.  At one of my other favorite coffee shops there's a kid there who can't be out of his early 20s.  I acquired his name which I subsequently used each time I saw him - big, that, greeting an employee by name - and learned a few things about him with which I could start brief conversations if he has a lull in business.  Now I notice he comes over and seems eager to talk to me for a while - he asks questions about me but most of the time he's responding to my questions.  It occurred to me that as an adult - a deadly cool adult with my little pork pie cap and vestigial pony-tail - a young kid, deciding on a major, looking at an uncertain future, might want to hear what I think about things.  I know young people look askance at old people a lot of the time but not all of the time.  When I was a kid I'd occasionally listen to one of the stupid old people who populated my world.

It's a brief but incredibly satisfying interaction for me.