I just read a post of byclarkellis.com, called Where’d all the good people go. He really makes a good point. There is not enough talk about regular, decent folks. About the norm.
Media is full of outrage, crime, terror, war and natural disaster. Whereas novels tend to be full of super-human heroes. Crime novels of quite the opposite.
So, today I’d like to talk about all the nice things, one happens to in daily life. Like the person waving you to move to their front at the checkout, when you are behind their loaded trolley in line to pay for the one item forgotten. The colleague, who readily swops a shift, when you need to go somewhere at a time you were supposed to work. The neighbour who accepts your parcel delivery, when you’re not at home and rings your bell in the evening to drop it off. The car driver at a crossing waving to you to move first, giving you right of way. The shopkeeper at the station, where you usually buy your cigarrettes having the ten-pack of your brand already out on the counter, as soon as you enter the premises. The passers-by making a nice comment on your garden, while you’re working away in your front garden. And all the nice, thoughtful gestures and acts of your family members and friends.
This, folks, really is the norm. Most of our daily lives are made of this fabric: tolerance, friendlyness, peacefull co-existance. And don’t let anybody ridicule this.
floatsome 
6 responses to “the norm”
This is exactly the kind of thing I need to read right now.
Just today, my colleagues sent me home early from work after seeing I wasn’t feeling well, my neighbor called and asked if I wanted to go dog walking with her, a student wrote to say how much she is enjoying the course, a friend called and complimented me on a blog post and the Tax Office wrote me that my returns are overdue.
Okay, so, four out of five ain’t bad.
(And the tax people were very polite and informed me of my extended deadline.)
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🙂 extended tax deadlines, that must be an Austrian invention.
Just hope, you are not sick, leaving school early?
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I have been sort of on the verge of coming down with something for a while, but it never really breaks out and I keep slogging along. But never fear – Herbstferien is around the corner. As for extended tax deadlines, it probably is an Austrian invention, just like you say. I am in some weird gray zone of the people who have to file every year and those that can wait for five years. The hubby is currently working on his 2011 declaration.
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Be glad, who’d be able to find stuff, receipts and papers five years buried? As with the cold, it’s been lingering on and off over here, too. Stay strong…
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You are right, of course. We should not forget these small happy interactions between REAL people. These are what make life better, not fantasy, fiction or the filth the world is listening to on a daily basis right now
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Yes, getting things into perspective is important.
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