A Flower on a Path.

In the last few weeks, I've had a few low-key theological conversations with family and friends.  I finished the novel Eat, Pray, Love and have found myself discussing Elizabeth Gilbert's now best-selling and blockbusting "Search for Everything."  I truly did love this book.  I loved her writing, and the way she expressed her passion for everything.  She described the food so well in her Italy portion of the book, that literally my mouth was watering, and for days all I craved was that pizza from Naples.

In discussing it with my mom (who could only speak for the movie), she said that while she enjoyed the movie, she wasn't as inspired as some may be.  She noted, "I can be inspired by a friend who overcomes a difficult situation."  A family friend of mine alluded to the fact that, "Maybe I'm missing something in my life?  I haven't felt that inspired to be that drastic in life."

I have concluded that for each person, inspiration (of course) comes in different forms.  I believe, that we can and should be inspired by the people around us.  We speak of angels and how magnificent it would be to see one in our lifetime.  Everyday we have the opportunity to see those angels.  They are our neighbors, our friends and our family members.  We don't need to look for flying, glowing, white-wearing beings--they are right in front of us.

Inspiration doesn't need to come from people.  It can be much smaller than this.  Yesterday while in church a woman remarked, "...It (inspiration) can be manifested in the form of a flower on a path while taking a walk." I loved this imagery!  I could see a path with a simple flower in the middle of it, and I knew immediately what it was she was talking about.

Spirituality and faith to me, are vital in all lives.  These come in countless forms and regardless of religion (if any), it is possible to have both.  However it may come to any of us in our daily lives, I hope we recognize it when it does.

A Friend.

Lately, I've spent a lot of time thinking about what "a friend" really is.  I've had my fair share of ridiculous run-ins with so-called "friends" in my short 22 years of living. Unfortunately I've found myself forming close relationships with people who are really nothing more than flakes and users. Oh, and liars.  I know one too many  liars.

I tend to think the most of people when I first meet them.  I forget that it's possible that a lot of the time, people are only looking out for themselves.  This is the opposite of the way my mind works; I generally am so nice that I end up getting walked all over.  In fact I played a game recently with some friends (see, oftentimes we don't even REALIZE we use the term friend so loosely. But these really were "friends".) where cards were read aloud with simple, personal questions on them that everyone had to answer.  One of the questions asked was, "What is one quality about yourself you wish you could change."  My response was, "I wish I wasn't so nice to my friends.  Maybe then I wouldn't get used all the time."

I've found that the people who I don't know so well in the beginning, are the same people that years later, have become my best friends.  My theory is, if you don't try hard, a natural bond develops.  I love and hate this idea.  I hate this because, the harder I seem to try with friends, the more I seem to get hurt.  I love it because I truly believe the idea that, "By small and simple things, are great things come to pass."  And because, "Despite everything, I believe that people really are good at heart."

I don't want every post on here to detail run-ins with negative people.  So I'll switch gears and express my gratitude for the people in my life who are the epitome of "good friends."

This post is dedicated to the friend who calls, emails or texts me just as I am needing to talk to someone.  To that friend who recognizes when I am in pain.  Who sits and talks with me on my bed for no reason at all.  The friend who folds my laundry because they know about the terrible day I have had, and refuses to stop when I ask them to.  The friend who takes me out to distract me from the problems I am facing.

This post is dedicated to the friend who includes me in and makes me feel like part of their family.  The friend who is simply honest because it's the right thing to do.  The friend who hangs out until all hours of the night, talking about nothing.  To the friend who realizes and understands that friendship, isn't just a convenience.  The friend who opens their home.  To the friend who knows exactly what I need to hear.

"Be kind.  Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.  No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."

Thanks to all my friends.

Evening "News?"

I generally like to flip through the TV channels at least once each day.  Normally the stations I tend to stop on are 24 hour news networks.  Because I am completely (dare I say) disgusted by what is deemed "news."  CNN Headline News did a yawn-inducing interviewing segment, talking to people on the street about Lindsay Lohan's early release from prison.  This is not news.  This is popular culture gossip.  And I don't need a commentator saying multiple times, "This is what the American people want to hear about."  Is it what people want to hear about?  Or could it be that you are running stories such as these, "assuming" that it's what I want to hear about.

I have no problem with popular culture.  I was a morning show employee of a top-40 radio station where every day I would eat, drink and sleep celebrity gossip.  Every half an hour though, we did news in our local city.  We never started our news section with breaking news that Lindsay Lohan was once again arrested.  It would have never been breaking news that Chelsea Clinton had her dad lose 15 pounds for her wedding, or Chelsea's wedding in general, simply due to the fact that, oh wait...it isn't news.

Just as entertainment outlets take the time for "real news" on occasion, how about the news networks take a bit of time for "popular culture" and stop confusing people as to what truly is "news."

Walmart.

There's a huge difference between the average employee of a Walmart on the East Coast, and the average employee of Walmart on the West Coast.  I personally have numerous relatives who at one time or another have been employed by Walmart and each of these relatives have been in the West (Nevada, California, Idaho, Utah). Some have made it a career and others have taken a job there part time to make ends meet.  I personally have spent, no doubt thousands of dollars at, what one relative so lovingly refers to it as, "Hell-Mart."  I am much more willing to spend money at a Walmart on the West Coast however, and this is made abundantly clear as I look through receipts from years in college and realize that sometimes would visit Walmart up to three times per week.  I am more willing to spend that money because I am greeted with a smile, a friendly face, customer service employees who actually care about the service of customers, a short line, and I can walk in and out in five minutes if I so desired.

Today I walked into a Walmart in Northern Virginia (I was picking up pictures which had been ordered online via a friend in Idaho...otherwise I wouldn't have step foot inside). I know better.  They've recently redone the Walmart, as they have many stores in the chain across the country, and when I walked through those automatic doors I was intrigued.  I thought, "Wow.  They've really changed this place.  I wonder if the service has changed"  (Growing up I probably went to Walmart ten times in eighteen years while at home.  But every year, multiple times a year I would visit family in the West and could honestly say we went to Walmart multiple times each visit, sometimes multiple times a day).  I learned in the first five minutes of being in the Walmart that despite it's structural makeover, it was the same old awful store.  

I spoke to an extremely nice gentleman (the only in my visit) in Electronics, and he pointed me in the direction of the Photo Center.  There was a cluster of people standing around the Self-Help Machines and no one in line to pick up photos.  I walked to the counter and realized not only was there no one else in line, there was no one working at the counter.  I am an extremely patient person when it comes to being in public places and waiting on help.  But after standing there for (yes, I timed it) 10 minutes.  I thought I should seek help.  I walked to the space behind the Check-Out Area because, generally speaking, there is a Customer Service Manager stationed there.  Well, there wasn't.  I walked up and down looking for someone in the blue and khaki. But couldn't find one.  I walked back over to the Photo Center which coincidentally sits right next to the Customer Service/Return Area.  I waited until an employee walked by and said, "I just need to pick up some photos that I had ordered online and there's no one working here it seems.  Is there any way you can help me?"  Her response as she briskly walked away from me was, "I don't know anything about it."

Don't they generally say that "the customer is always right?"  In this case, I wasn't looking to be right.  I was looking to be helped.  She was incorrect in her answer to the question, "Can you help me?" Because, YES she could have very well helped me. "Sure ma'am, let me go find a manager."  

To me this just amounts to being polite.  It is not my intention to generalize.  I don't believe that every person in the East is rude.  I don't believe that every person in the West is polite.  What I do believe however, is that everyone is capable of better.  We can be polite to strangers.  Just the other day, walking into a community center with my mom, she simply said, "How are you this morning?" to a complete stranger.  The woman didn't know how to react for a second and then said, "I'm sorry.  I didn't think you were talking to me.  Nobody around here does that. Ever."  That is one of the most sad things I've ever heard.  It's okay to be friendly.  It's okay to say hello.  It's okay to say thank you when someone holds the door open for you.  Whatever you're doing when you get inside isn't so important that you can't exhale the words as you're walking in.

So let's all remember to be a little more polite.  And let it start with my friends at Walmart.  Because let's face it, we all will be interacting with one, if not more of them, in the near future.

(Eventually I got my pictures.  20 minutes after my run-in with my "I don't know anything about it" friend.)