Model Citizenship

It was a cold, windy night - chilly by Southern California standards (about 45 F). Low clouds hung in the air - framing a faint sense of doom… My girlfriend was meeting her friend for a yoga class - so we went to the gym together. We pulled into the parking lot and searched out an easy space to get in and out of. We opted for a spot relatively near the center of the lot…

It was a routine night at the gym - nothing special or peculiar to discuss. There was an average crowd, easy access to the equipment, and a Lakers game to watch… The story occurred as we left the gym and made our way back to the truck…

The wind had picked up a bit since we entered the gym - probably 20-25 mph. It felt even colder now and we hurried to the truck to get out of the cold. As we arrived at the truck, Renee pointed out the first predator - lurking deviously in the dark. As we looked around, we noticed several more lot sharks although displaying much less threatening postures…

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In our next tale, we have both a model citizen and a couple of not so model citizens…One lazy Saturday afternoon at Lopez Lake - a great little jewel for weekend getaways -, I had the pleasure of witnessing the good, bad, and the ugly in row-boating behavior.

The weather on this particular day was very nice - about 70 degrees and clear. There was, however, a bit of wind blowing across the lake - with some gusts upto about 3o mph. The lake level, as you can see in the pictures, is down to about 80% - exposing many reeds and branches near the shore making for a difficult time for those boaters not able to negotiate the wind and resulting near-shore currents.

While we were enjoying a little lunch from our campsite on the top of a hill, we noticed a small rowboat drifting precariously close to the shore and branches - eventually it became entangled in the trap. 

The boat remained stranded for several minutes as the operators (looks to be one child and one adult) thrashed around with their oars trying to free themselves.

While they eventually did free themselves from the reeds, they found themselves no match for the on-shore winds and currents - They finally beached it. At this point, they sat in the boat trying to free themselves with their oars from inside the boat - to no avail.

Finally the model citizen in our story came to their rescue - walking into the water to free the stranded boaters.

So - here is how it all breaks down:

• Two boaters - wearing life jackets and weighing down the boat -remained seated in the boat while another individual pushed them out of trouble in knee-deep water - NOT SO MODEL CITIZENS
• A stranger walking into the water to free two people who seem to have no interest in helping themselves - A MODEL CITIZEN, INDEED!

This is yet another example of a severe lack of basic common sense - if it wasn’t for our model citizen in the story, these two “boaters” may very well still be stranded…

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So, I went away for the weekend; left Friday and came back Monday, to surprise my aunt for her birthday this past Saturday, May 19th. The flight to Florida (on United Airlines) was pure hell. I won’t go into that because I don’t want to focus on the negative.

The journey from Florida to Houston (on Continental), however, was another story all together. A little boy and girl, sitting 3 or 4 rows in front of me, were making a ton of noise (as is to be expected) on the plane. I didn’t really think anything of it; I only hoped that they would soon be quiet. To me, the next moment was truly remarkable. I witnessed an older gentleman (maybe in his 60’s) stand up and with a huge, genuine smile ask the mother of these 2 little ones, aged 2-4ish), if he could give them a cookie. The mother, thankfully, allowed the man to bring out a giant bag of chocolate chip cookies and let the kids pick as many as they wanted out of the bag. Needless to say, the children quieted down and the nice man chatted them up, asking questions about their trip to Disneyland. I was so taken aback by this that I began to cry.

I know, I’m a big ole sap but I can’t help it. I love to see that kind of beauty and humanity in the world and it’s so rare these days to see something like that. In today’s impatient and rude masses, I wish I could have thanked the man for renewing my faith in people but he made his way off the plane while I sat back and let everyone go before me. Oh well, it doesn’t matter. I’ll never forget it.

Now, that’s some SERIOUS model citizenship!

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I had lunch on Andrew Jackson today - thanks to our next model citizen …When I left the house this morning for work, I had all of 2 bucks in my wallet. Hardly enough for coffee, and definitely not enough for a Friday lunch! It looked like I was going to be dining with plastic…just then, I get a call from my girlfriend - she was heading out of town and asked if I had left already (I drove her car into work). Turns out she had a $20 bill in the center console of her car that she intended to take with her. Since I was already a few miles from the house, she gave me clearance to proceed and even suggested I use the $20 for lunch (she’s good like that).

When I got to work, I took the $20 out of the center console and put it in my pocket. I walked to my building, went up the stairs, badged in, opened the door and went to my desk.

I had a lot of work to do today, so I got right to it, donning my Vision M so as not to be distracted. A few minutes after I sat down, “Model” Mike came walking through the aisle waving something above his head. Since I was acoustically engaged by Matisyahu, I couldn’t make out what Mike was saying. Then, it came to me…

I quickly checked my pocket for the 20-spot and found it was indeed missing!!! I immediately dropped the tunes, stood up and flagged Mike down. Without hesitation, I asked him if it was a $20 bill he was waving around. It was! He said he found it on the steps by the door to the building - seems when I pulled my security badge out of my pocket, old Andrew Jackson decided to go for a walk…

After asking him about the $20, Mike - without hesitation - gave the $20 back to me…

So, Mike found old Mr. Jackson on the steps and then proceeded to walk through the aisles asking if anyone had dropped him!!!! Because of Mike’s model actions, Jackson still paid for my lunch!

Thanks Mike!

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