When I go running, or biking for that matter, I don't think about anything but the task at hand, the physical effort, and the temporary escape from the busyness and/or stress from life. That's why the people I meet along my "me time" best be pretty special... and of course, many times they are. The natural highs associated with physical activity are really helpful to anyone in life and I find after adventures on the roads or in the woods, I am often better able to Love and be loved in this hectic life we live. So it is always a pleasant experience to find something breathtaking on the trail or in another adventurer.
After a recent run I stopped at the track to watch the descending sun caught up in fast moving, eastward bound storm clouds. Upon walking back towards my car, I spotted a large man and a little girl walking just ahead of me, in the same direction. The man was strong and tall, and had multiple ear and facial piercings. The little girl was probably around five or six and was wearing a black summer dress. The man was intimidating, the little girl was not. It was some kind of contrast,
while here I am, skinny runner boy, coming up behind them. But the part of this picture that was most striking was what the little girl was doing. She was picking up pieces of trash and empty bottles. Not just a couple here and there, then moving on,
She was picking up every single piece of trash within eyesight!
Not only that, but the impending figure of a man (i presume her Dad) was in charge of holding all the junk she found.
It was quite a picture.
I was moving at a faster speed then the two of them, so I was about to pass by and jump in my car when I decided, maybe to spare Dad some work, or maybe because I was motivated by the little girl; to start picking up any of the pieces on the other side of the path she had previously missed. After collecting a number of pieces, I proceeded to walk by, and without a glance back, to smile, toss the trash and start my journey home.
But before I could ponder the equally captivating little girl and the light cascading through the clouds, I heard the little girl utter something to the effect of,
"hey daddy, he's helping too"
This scene just made my day for SO many reasons. For the beauty I didn't expect to find, for the motivation of a young child, for the apple-of-his-eye type feeling the girl gave to her dad and for the innocent Hope of a child.
All of this coming in a town where the elementary school provides the motto,
"Here, the children are our future"
Yes, they are,
and,
if this little girl is any prediction of that,
I am not only excited, but I am awe inspired;
and on a stifling afternoon when I went out looking for a little run in the woods,
...I found my Hope renewed.
That we may all move like this...
Listen:
Joel and Janna- anyway (check these people outski)
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