Humanity At Its Finest Hour...

Well, today started out normal like all the others. Then it soon went downhill...quickly. Allow me to give you a summary:

For those of you who are not sure exactly what I do to pay the bills, I am a baking businessman. Many hours of my week I work with mixers & ovens, helping people celebrate great life experiences with sweets. I like baking and I am pretty good at it; but my goal ever since I started was to work my way out of it so I can concentrate my energies on other aspects of our family business. I thought I was quickly approaching my goal. I was training this woman named Tammy to be a baker; and for the past 5 months she has been assisting me. I was making arrangements to where she would be full-time come late August; but today I found out she is regrettably having to quit due to personal reasons...and she is having to quit today. Seeing her go is sad enough. She has been one of the greatest employees I have worked with thus far. With her departure, my focus has to revert back to baking until I train another baker.

Then, my mother had a minor car accident with a street sign. The accident was just bad enough for the mechanic to put a down payment on his daughter’s braces.

Finally, to round out the evening, my brother's house caught on fire. Everyone got out safely. The house burned just enough to probably ruin everything from the smoke. It turns out that my adorable 5-year-old nephew accidentally started the fire because he was pretending to be a scientist. He was inspecting a cotton ball by holding it up to a lamp. The cotton ball was one that his older sister just finished using to remove nail polish. Before anyone knew it, an uncontrollable fire started to consume his bedroom.

I only live 4 blocks away from my brother. When I got there, I joined the family in the neighbor's yard and watched the firefighters do what they do. I didn't say much. I just sat there beside my nephew and kept him company. While sitting there beside Pierce, I saw 2 things happen. 1) I saw a small crowd gather to watch and for a moment there I thought they were going to start selling concessions. What can I say, though? It’s Southern Illinois…our entertainment options are limited. 2) I saw countless individuals come over to my brother & his family to show their loving concern. There were a group of women taking down the different sizes in shirts, pants, shoes, etc. At the same time there were some others on cell phones coordinating food & clothes deliveries. A neighbor across the street who (to use a phrase my mother uses) doesn’t have a pot to pee in himself came over and gave my brother a hundred dollars.

Every day I see sad examples of human beings unfortunately doing what they do most often: thinking only of themselves. Then just when my cynicism starts to overtake me, I see extraordinary examples of human beings doing what they were created to do: loving one another.

I guess today didn’t end up all that bad after all…