breaking free

Freedom is that instant between when someone tells you to do something and when you decide how to respond. -Dr. Jeffrey Borenstein

Monday, February 12, 2007

Exceptional

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine asked me what I thought was exceptional. Tonight I went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few odds and ends that I needed for my room. I get to the cash register only to find that I do not have my credit card and therefore, no way to pay for my items. I start to leave, thoroughly irritated and embarrassed. I see Adam Brown. “Guess who lost their credit card?” So I tell Adam about my predicament and then head out to my car. I get to the car when he calls my phone and tells me that he’ll go ahead and pay for me and I can just pay him back later. Now, Adam and I are friends and we say hi to one another when we pass but we do not really hang out. I would not call him one of my best friends. Yet he still helped and turned around my entire night. I had had a long day, and that act of kindness put me in the best mood. That is what I deem exceptional. One human helping another. He did not have to help me and, if he had not, I wouldn’t have thought ant less of him. But he did anyway and that is what makes him and his deed exceptional. There needs to be more people in the world like Adam Brown.