On Sunday, my wife and I returned from a stellar short vacation to Montreal. We were looking forward to seeing our kids again and were waiting for the Park and Fly Shuttle at Halifax International to take us back to our car that we had left four short days earlier.
We boarded the shuttle and were greeted by a (really) pleasant man named Reggie. He took our bags for us, loaded them up and chattered on to us and the other passengers. He was very friendly. No really. VERY friendly.
Reggie told jokes, made everyone laugh and once we were all seated, he took off for the Park and Fly lot. The thing is, he didn’t stop talking. Most of the time, he was glancing up into the mirror so he could see us and he kept telling us stories. He told us we could call him Reggie, Reginald, or Super Reggie. He welcomed us to the Park and Fly. In his Jamaican accent, he told us that he loved his job but most of all he loved being alive and that he was grateful for what he had been given in this life.
To be honest, I thought he was about to launch into a sermon about religion or something, and this made me more than a little anxious as Public Displays of Religion so often make me cringe. But he didn’t. He simply expressed how lucky we are to be on this planet. To have the opportunity to make an impact in someone’s life, even if it’s just our own.
Now, most people would look down on someone like Reggie as he simply drives a bus at the airport. I think though, that Reggie has got it all figured out. He knows how to make the best of what you’ve got, and that the most important thing in the world is how you treat other people.
I’m not sure if Super Reggie is a social media maven, but I suspect that if he was, he’s the kind of person we’d all want to follow. The kind that helps everyone and isn’t just in it for himself.
I don’t want to turn this into a post about Twitter or anything like that, but the next time you’re about to criticize or lash out at someone online, maybe it would be better to stay positive, to look at how to help and how best to brighten someone’s day. I think that message applies to an awful lot.
Previously posted on brightwhite.ca
