Great people still exist!

I'm a glass is half guy, in general, and I try to look for the good things rather than the bad, but I do admit that even I fall prey to brief periods of dismay. Fortunately, when those times present themselves, I more often than not am figuratively slapped out of it by someone restoring my faith in my fellow humans. One such incident recently happened thanks to a former neighbour and involved those delicious looking nuggets of gloriousness you see to the left.

To fully appreciate the story, you need a little background info ...

If there are people who feel that this world has become increasingly less caring and cordial, you could excuse their angst, what with the Doom 'n Gloom circulating around the Internet and on the nightly news. I am here to tell you, at least from my perspective, there are still plenty of great people in this world, and with that statement, hopes that the goodwill of all are still high.

Why do I harbour such positivism, you might ask?

Joyce and I have lived in the same house for 30 years. During that time, we have been gifted a number of really awesome neighbours, on both sides, resulting in some good friendships being established. In one of the cases, a woman and her adult children moved in and we quickly established a cordial relationship across the fences of a backyard. Over the years, the dynamics of the family altered slightly, but the friendships became more substantial, especially when the daughter moved back in with her gorgeous cherubs, delighting SuperMom Joyce. By the time that the house changed hands, we had shared a bunch of laughs and giggles. 

One of the adult children, Taylor, has made an effort to maintain other friendships from the neighbourhood, so since their departure, we regularly run into each other and have a small catch up. Recently, our afternoon reading efforts were interrupted by a knock at the front door, somewhat of a rare occurrence these days. Taylor had dropped by to ask if we would be willing to lend him some cake decorating tools (see the photo at the top left) since it was his mother's birthday and he wanted to surprise her with some cupcakes. The answer was of course yes, and we thought not much more of it. We were more than happy to help.

A couple of days later, another knock at the door revealed Taylor returning the tools in addition to 4 cupcakes, made with his loving little hands, as a thanks for helping him out. Fresh out of the oven, one of them barely had time to cool down before it delighted my tastebuds with a nutty, buttery deliciousness that impressed me significantly. 

Many would chalk this pleasant exchange up to the adage, "One good turn deserves another." and you wouldn't be wrong, especially considering the aforementioned friendship, but it still propped up my belief in the goodness of others. While we were more than happy to help Taylor out with the loaner of the icing tip tools, for him to think fondly enough of our gesture to repay us with the fruits of his labour was touching. 

I can't change the thoughts of others, but it's times like that this that reinforce my constant efforts to look for the silver lining. As the former Notre Dame football head coach Lou Holtz once said, "Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it." IMHO, we are the sole determiners of our attitude, and subsequently responsible for our daily frame of mind. If I steel myself in the desire to look for positives, I will more often than not come away seeing the good in life rather than feeling buried under it.

Great people like Taylor help keep me that way!