Good Morning!

The new year is here, and I admit that I am nervous about it. Can I be confident that 2009 will be any better? I can't. I have no idea what's in store for me, 2008 certainly proved that to me. 2008 did not go out with a bang. I stayed home with my dad and we had a pretty fun time sipping our assortment of Pyramid ales, which I drank from a huge vintage stein I found earlier that day from a second-hand store. It says "San Francisco" on it and has the skyline. I guess I'm a little homesick.  

Dad and I watched Nova [really, it's all Paul, Dad, and I do nowadays when I'm home], and then a documentary called "How William Shatner Changed the World", which was about how the futuristic technology in Star Trek has eventually come to be in our society--i.e., cell phones, video chat, ion colliders, even diversity in the workplace. Did you know that when Captain Kirk and Lt. Uhura kissed in one of the episodes, it was the first interracial kiss to be shown on television? Insane! Star Trek is so awesome. I say this as I push my glasses farther up my nose. 

So....yeah, I have no clue what's coming my way this next year. All I can do is hang on really tight and hope that if it is going to be filled with more heart break and sadness, at least let me have my friends near me to help make it a little less unbearable...

Everyone is going through their own hardship, and we are all so intently focused on ourselves and being able to just survive our own difficulties. But we should really get our attention off ourselves, and start to really pay attention to the people around us--whether they are friends or strangers. I was listening to Maya Angelou on NPR yesterday morning when this became apparent to me. I've never read anything by her, so I'm not too sure what she is all about. But she said so many profound things during the interview. The one I liked the best was when the radio show's host shared that Angelou influenced her the greatest by teaching her the importance of smiling and saying "good morning!" to everyone you meet. Angelou said when she was in her early twenties and living in San Francisco as a single mom of a young child, she was really struggling. Things were not easy for her, and she kept herself very guarded. One day, she walked into a department store and an older white woman greeted her with a huge smile, and warmly said, "good morning!" to her. Angelou said she had been really taken aback. Did she know this woman? She didn't think she did. She couldn't understand why this stranger had been so kind to her, but she found herself feeling, all of a sudden, lighter. She felt warmth and gratitude. So now Maya Angelou greets everyone with a smile and a "good morning!" (or afternoon, evening, etc.). It's so simple, but so important. 

I consider myself pretty guarded. I'm polite enough, I always say please and thank you and I hate when I see strangers being impolite to each other. But I'm not usually the kind of person that will smile and say "good morning!" to a stranger as I go for a walk, or as I enter a store. But I should be that kind of person.