A few days ago, the Jeep was parked in the lot of a big box grocery store. Its owner was inside getting a prescription filled and replenishing the family’s supply of water softener salt. The store is located in a Northeastern Metro area that is not among the most liberal locations in the Twin Cities. In fact, liberals are a minority in this neck of the woods.
Among a multitude of bumper stickers on the back of the Jeep is one the Sierra Club sent. It reads "Make America Green Again." That sticker's been on the Jeep since about 2016. That slogan, and some similar sentiments on other bumper stickers, may have irritated more than one local pickup driver who seemed determined to demonstrate that real men drive pickups and drive fast. Being old enough to remember the consternation about “real men don’t eat quiche,” while also being a quiche eater, it was easy to be 1000% behind a response that went “real men eat whatever they want,” or words to that effect.
some notes bring joy
Photo by J. Harrington
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All of this has been a long-winded prelude to sharing a story that made the day. The bumper sticker described above triggered the placement of a note under the Jeep’s driver side windshield wiper. That note turned out to be a pleasant surprise. It read:
Loved your
“Make America
Green Again”
Bumper Sticker
🙂
Becky
I've never met Becky, although the Better Half did, since she returned to the Jeep before I finished my errands. It is all too rare an occasion when expressing a preference prompts a positive response from someone else. Is that because we have become too focused on our differences instead of what we have in common? Becky, and her note, have created a synergistic feedback. I will now be more open to telling others when I agree and will look more carefully for opportunities to pay positivity forward. That may not solve the world’s problems but it will undoubtedly make me happier. That’s a good enough place to start. In fact, I seem to recall a management technique that involved wandering around and catching people doing something right. It works with puppies, too. What more can we ask?
Thanks
By W. S. Merwin
Listenwith the night falling we are saying thank youwe are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railingswe are running out of the glass roomswith our mouths full of food to look at the skyand say thank youwe are standing by the water thanking itstanding by the windows looking outin our directionsback from a series of hospitals back from a muggingafter funerals we are saying thank youafter the news of the deadwhether or not we knew them we are saying thank youover telephones we are saying thank youin doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevatorsremembering wars and the police at the doorand the beatings on stairs we are saying thank youin the banks we are saying thank youin the faces of the officials and the richand of all who will never changewe go on saying thank you thank youwith the animals dying around ustaking our feelings we are saying thank youwith the forests falling faster than the minutesof our lives we are saying thank youwith the words going out like cells of a brainwith the cities growing over uswe are saying thank you faster and fasterwith nobody listening we are saying thank youthank you we are saying and wavingdark though it is
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