No Reason. Just Because.

Why do we always have to have a reason to do something. Everyone has an agenda or needs some motivation or be a part of a "cause" or "movement." Why can't we just do something nice for someone for no reason at all? We have become too suspicious as a human race. Maybe out of necessity in some instances, but all too often it is out of a desire to catch someone doing wrong or pin an injustice on them. That makes for a better story rather than talking about how nice they are and the good they might have done.

Growing up in small town America it was common place to be polite, respectful, courteous, and just plain nice to everyone; yes, even strangers. But I realized something was changing about 15 years ago when I was riding on a crowded bus. It was full, people were having to stand because all of the seats were taken, including the one I was sitting in. A young woman stepped on the bus and I just stood up an offered my seat because I thought it was the nice thing to do. She looked at me with a bit of contempt and asked me if I was "kidding" and told me to "just keep it." A few people even laughed quietly as if in agreement with her. I thought I was on another planet. But when I got off the bus, this new planet seemed to grow around me.

15 years later, people don't look you in the eyes as they walk by on a sidewalk. Saying "good morning" or "hello" in a parking lot or mall has brought "shock and awe" to the social level. I about scared a man to death tonight as I said hello to him in a grocery store! One day I paid for a person's gas and you would have thought I had personally slandered their good name. People walk with their head down, eyes to the ground. They talk on their cell phones or listen to their iPod, living their life disconnected from the world around them. Children do not know how to be sociable anymore because they are too busy playing their gameboy while they are at a restaurant with their family.

We are living in a world that is more connected than has ever been known before in the entire history of our human existence, but yet we are becoming more disconnected at the same time. Do yourself, and everyone else, a favor; walk with your head up, your phone in your pocket, your iPod turned off, your smile turn on and say hello to someone today. You might even go so far to wave at someone as they pass by in their car. Offer your seat to someone on the bus or subway. Who knows; maybe we will start a new "movement" around the world bringing people into a renewed awareness of the fact that there is other life on our own planet and we are all pretty much just alike: social creatures.

Blessings!
Pastor Matt