by Patricia Feager 7/16/2016
As I walked around Plano, Texas, on Saturday afternoon, I thought a lot about an ActiveRain event at the Marriott Hotel at the Shops of Legacy, several years ago. After the meeting, many AR members, including Bob Stewart went to Sambuca's to visit and network with each other. It was a great day and night!
Since then, a lot has happened over the years. I can't remember the year of the ActiveRain event, but I do remember happier days when people were focused more on people, education, making friends, and learning better ways to do business. It was there, in front of the Marriott Hotel, I realized how different the world is today. All the sad news on the media, current events throughout cities and the world, have caused a lot of heartbreak and sorrow.
One observation I made while walking around the fountain, is I never made eye contact with another human being. I felt like a foreigner in my own country. Even though there were plenty of people, everyone else was on their Cell Phones, oblivious to anyone else on the path. Oddly enough, I never saw two people engaged in conversation together. So I focused on the beauty, because in the back of my mind, I couldn't help but think to myself, with all the loss of life in recent days, those people who perished will never see all the beauty that is right here on earth or their family, especially the children. If they could come back, I'm sure they would be spending more time with people, face-to-face, rather than on their phones.
"Think about all the beauty still left around you
and be happy." --- Anne Frank
Reflect on beauty; not sadness.
All the while I walked, I couldn't help but notice all the beauty around me and it felt good not to be paying attention to the all the bad news we've had this past week. Today is Sunday. Let's give it a rest and reflect on beauty, not sadness. As I was about to complete my walk yesterday afternoon, I received a Text. Without even giving it a second thought, I automatically read the message. My friends invited me over to visit their relatives, a family of eight, who came to visit from Mesa, Arizona. In that split second, there was this beautiful tree, that looked like it had a skirt at the bottom of the ground and I thought to myself, I'm no better than anyone else. We are all addicts on Cell Phones!
It was gone in a blink of an eye!
I thought a lot about the six kids and their parents, I was about to meet for the first time, and my Texas friends, Jane and Bruce who have been so good to me over the years. And then I saw a winged creature flying in the air and I had an inspiration. The flying insect was too quick for me to get its photograph. It was gone in a blink of an eye! but I am sharing a photo of one I saw a year or two ago. Since this was Jane and Bruce's relatives first visit to Texas, I decided to surprise them all and have Christmas in July --- but first, I had to find some Christmas presents!
Serendipity
I stopped in the City of Grapevine, hoping I could find Christmas gifts for children I didn't know and still make it to dinner in time! As I walked around the stores, other shoppers were there, but they were all on cell phones! I kept my head up, looking for those Christmas treasures I never planned for in advance. As luck would have it, I found two stores that sold Christmas ornaments and other Christmas treasures! After wrapping them up in paper, I put them all in a bag and offered the kids my grab bag, telling them, we were going to celebrate Christmas in July.
The children were so excited and respectful too! Everyone was surprised - afterall they didn't know me; yet I felt the true spirit of Christmas and joy was written all over their faces. I can't think of a better way to snap out of sadness than to make others happy --- Patricia Feager
It has been a crazy week - Thank God I'm still on earth!
"In spite of everything I still believe that people are
really good at heart. I simply can't build up
my hopes on a foundation consisting of
confusion, misery, and death."
--- Anne Frank
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