大象传媒

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Steve Taylor

Good Morning

There is a story I sometimes tell my students about the taxi passenger who made a whole town happy.

A man arrives at the train station and steps into a taxi for a short drive. He鈥檚 friendly to the driver, asking him how long he鈥檚 been on duty, if he has a family, and what he does in his free time.

As the man pays his fare, he says to the driver, 鈥淭hanks! I really enjoyed talking to you. And it was the saftest I鈥檝e felt in a car for a long time. You鈥檙e a great driver.鈥� This puts the taxi driver in a good mood. He鈥檚 friendly to all his customers, which puts all of them in a good mood too. They鈥檙e friendly to all the people they meet, which puts them in a good mood, so that they鈥檙e friendly to everyone they meet鈥�And so on, until the whole town is in a good mood.

From the opposite perspective, when I was 18, I left Manchester to go to university down south, feeling insecure and anxious. A few days after I arrived, a fellow student said to me vindictively, 鈥淗ow does someone with an accent like yours, end up at university.鈥� The comment completely shook my confidence. What was wrong with my accent I wondered? For weeks afterwards, I was reluctant to speak, and felt inferior.

These stories illustrate the power of human interaction. Disrespect damages others. On the other hand, a simple act of friendliness may restore their faith in human nature, even lift them out of depression. Our interactions with others create a rippling effect that spreads far beyond us in distance and time. So today, let鈥檚 use this power in a positive way.

Blessings.