A Story

I can remember, some years ago, as I drove my daughter to school I encountered a man who, through one simple gesture, changed the behaviour of the whole village.

This old man was the new school crossing attendant, the "lollipop man". As I drove by, he waved to me as one would to a close friend. He smiled at me at the same time. For the next few days I discreetly tried to study his face to see if I knew him. I didn't. Perhaps he had mistaken me for someone else. Perhaps he thought he recognized my car as that of a friend's.

By the time I convinced myself that he & I were strangers, we were smiling & waving warmly to each other every morning.

Then, one day the mystery was solved. As we approached the crossing, I stopped my car behind a line of others while a group of children crossed the road. Once they had reached the safety of the pavement on the other side , the old man lowered his sign & motioned the cars through. I noticed that he waved & smiled at the first car with gestures that I thought had been intended personally for me. The children in the first car were familiar with the warm morning greeting . They already had the window down & were happily leaning out to wave their reply. The second car received the same greeting. He did the same with each following vehicle.

Each day I continued to watch how this one man's gesture affected the morning commuters. I never saw anyone fail to respond. How did they feel I wondered? What difference did the warm friendliness of a stranger make to their morning? For me, I looked forward each day to the pleasure of a greeting from a friend I had never met. His cheerfulness warmed the start of my day. With a simple gesture - a wave & a warm smile - he had changed the behaviour, & I suspect, the feelings, of the whole village.

If you enjoyed this story, or if you have one, let me know at stvday@hotmail.com