A Jolt of Positivity

Recently, I received a jolt of positivity.

We were on our way to go hiking on the AT in Michaux State Forest when we decided to stop and get some fresh fruit. 

A friend and I were driving through the orchards on the north end of Adams county. We happened upon a small stand that I had visited years earlier with my mom. We pulled off.

Walking up to the stand, I said, “Doesn’t look like anyone’s around.”

And just as I was saying that I noticed a sign.

“Self-service.”

I looked around and sure enough there was no one around. The sign explained to us that there was a cash box on the table to the right and that we were take what we wanted and leave the money in the box.  I opened the box and found some small bills and change.

I couldn’t believe it.  There was money laying out in the open. 

“This is beautiful,” I said. 

We decided to get some peaches and cherries.  We placed our money in the box and took out the appropriate change. 

There was a pad and pen laying beside the cash box.  I wrote the following:

“this stand shows the beauty of our country…we will enjoy the peaches and cherries all the more.” 

We walked away and proceeded on our drive to the trail. 

All was well.

                ***************

In the society we live in today, it seems that things are not so positive.  Every day we are force fed by the media stories of the latest murder, robbery, fire, war, etc.  News has become nothing more than a negative assessment of our and our neighbor’s lives. 

When I was at the stand, I had a big, warm feeling running through me.  

To me, the stand represented more than just hope for the world.  It represented truth, honesty, responsibility, trust, goodness, neighborliness, etc.  It slapped the cynics in the face.  It said to the nay-sayers, “We choose not to live in your down-spiraling world.”

         (in the tiny whispers of time,
         those places where we get a
         glimpse into the obscure window
                of life,
         we find reason to live)

Often times we find ourselves in that “spiral”.  We forget to notice the father playing catch with his son or the grandmother, daughter and grandaughter having ice-cream together.  We don’t stop to look at the tiger lilies or put our feet in the cool water of a mountain stream.

                   ***************

I’ve been jolted. 

I hope you are soon jolted too.

 

(written 9 July 2000)