Shine Today

She walks the streets at all hours of the day checking garbage cans. Every week she is out there, no matter how cold.  Rain seems to be the only time I don't see her.  It appears life has not been easy for her and I'm sure there are some who have told her to scram and leave their garbage alone. What started out for me as something so simple has changed me more than she knows.  She has taught me the value of letting people give you things and simply saying thank you, even though I know she has what most of us consider to be less. In a previous post, http://shine2day2.blogspot.com/2012/11/who-gave-me-fish.html, I shared a little about my friend. Since then, I have received another fish, bananas and now, $5.  But I will tell you, words cannot express what she has truly given me.  Very few words are spoken between us, she always smiles when she sees me come out, and always says thank you.  Today, I told her thank you.

I’ve been thinking lately. We all desire to belong, plain and simple. We all desire to be recognized, to know that who we are means something. Not that we all seek to be president, or the best doctor or the next “Bill Gates”. No, many of us just want to be known.  We hear about someone getting an award for a job well done and a part of us thinks “man, that should have been me” whether it’s because we played a key part or simply because we know that we have done something amazing too.  We say we don’t need to be in the spotlight, which is true, I believe, for most of us.  Yet something inside longs to be recognized, to know we are making a difference, to be told we are doing something right. Growing up, most of us have someone in our life that tells us how pretty or handsome we are, what a good job we’ve done or some form of compliment.  We draw or color pictures for our family and watch for their approval (hoping our picture would go on the frig).  Maybe you received an award for