During the school year,
Every morning I load my kids into the car and we head to school.
Same route,
Same street,
Same crosswalk,
And standing there every single morning is an elderly man in a safety vest.
Now he doesn't just do his job.
He doesn't just hold up the stop sign and wave the kids through.
He waves to every car.
Not a quick mechanical gesture,
A real wave.
A good morning kind of wave,
And I see you kind of wave,
And you know what?
It's impossible not to wave back.
I started waving to him as I dropped my kids off,
And then again on my way back.
And now,
Honestly,
I look forward to it.
This small,
Quiet moment that takes maybe two seconds out of my entire day,
I look forward to it.
I've never met this man.
I don't know his name.
We've never spoken a single word to each other,
But he has made my morning better,
Consistently,
Reliably,
Without fail.
Here's what I want you to think about today.
We spend so much of our lives looking for the big things,
The big breakthrough,
The big gesture,
The big moment that's gonna shift everything.
And sometimes those moments come,
But most of life,
Most of life is this.
It's the crosswalk.
It's the wave.
It's the small,
Ordinary moment that someone decided to pour a little light into,
And that light travels.
Because when he waves at me,
I'm in a better mood pulling out of that parking lot.
And when I'm in a better mood,
I'm more patient with the person I interact with next.
And that person carries something a little lighter into their next moment,
And it just keeps going.
We tend to underestimate the ripple.
We think,
What difference does it make if I smile?
What difference does it make if I hold the door,
Or say thank you like I mean it,
Or wave at someone I don't even know?
It makes every difference.
Not always in ways you'll see,
Not always in ways you'll measure,
But somewhere,
To someone,
In some ordinary moment,
On an ordinary morning,
It lands,
And it matters.
On the days when he isn't there,
When someone else fills that spot,
You notice the cars don't wave,
The crossing happens,
And everyone moves on.
It's fine.
It's functional,
But it isn't him.
And that,
Right there,
Is the proof that one person,
One consistent,
Joyful,
Generous human being,
Can change the entire feeling of a place just by choosing to show up fully,
Every time.
And I think about that.
I think about what it means to be that person in someone else's morning,
In your family,
In your workplace,
In the little corner of the world you move through every day.
You don't have to be loud.
You don't have to be recognized.
You don't have to do anything grand.
You just have to mean it.
One day,
And I hope it's a long,
Long time from now,
That man won't be at the crosswalk anymore.
And when that day comes,
I think a lot of people are going to feel it without fully understanding why.
They're going to pull through that intersection and sense that something small,
But real,
Is missing.
That's a legacy,
Not carved in stone,
Not written in headlines,
Just felt,
Quietly,
By strangers who never knew his name,
But were better for knowing his wave.
Be that person,
Even when it's cold,
Even when no one seems to notice,
Even when you think it doesn't matter.
It matters.
