Off Topic - Hometown

I was going to post today about our lovely (yet crazy) warm weather. But my mind keeps drifting back to last night’s news. It’s totally unrelated to life at the sanctuary but it does make me wonder what this world is coming to. I grew up in a small(ish) town (not as small as the town we live by now). I never really thought much of it. It’s the town I grew up in and the town I call “home” because that’s where my family lives; it’s where my relatives are buried and where someday, I expect to be buried. Oh sure, when I grew up I moved away but I came back (sort of; it’s only a 30 mile/30 minute drive). I have pretty strong roots and am loyal to my last names.

My hometown is very rarely in the news. Maybe once a year our local news does a story about our hometown (if that). Oh sure it’s a college town but the streets roll up at night after 10pm. As a teenager, I was always home before dark thanks to driving a little yellow car with headlights permanently stuck on bright and no dash lights (totally embarrassing for a teenager). As much as I grumbled about that car, it also taught me values (I am still driving the car I “upgraded” to when the little yellow car finally died). I’ve been driving my “upgrade” for 15 years and it has over 200,000 and to me it still seems “new”. Yes, I know, I’m weird.

Last night as I was heading to bed, the news mentioned a shooting in my hometown. I know no other information. But it’s scary to think that someone in a relatively small town would shoot someone (not on accident). Actions like these really make me wonder what is coming to this world. I’ve seen the cruelties dealt to horses (abuse, neglect, etc.). I shouldn’t be surprised that those same cruelties would be dealt out to people. I know there is good in people. I spent last night with a wonderful group of people. I was even commenting to Mike the other day. I’d had a bad day at work last week and out of the blue, I had a friend check in to see how things were going. Just a quick note to say “hi, how’s it going?” really cheered me up.

It may take more effort to do good things than bad, but afterwards you always feel better doing something good for someone else. Doing something “good” or nice doesn’t have to entail a huge plan or lots of money. So today, I’m challenging everyone to do something nice for someone else, a phone call, a pat on the back, even a sticky note saying “hi, was just thinking about ya”; it doesn’t have to be much, just something to bring a smile to someone’s face to let them know you are thinking about them.