My son went to a comprehensive high school with about 2,000 kids. As a senior he told me this about the principal, “I like Dr. C. He’s a good principal. He says ‘hi’ when you see him in the hall even if he doesn’t know you.”
At that time, like many times, Dr. C was under many pressures and my son had not done anything that brought the principal’s attention to him. To be acknowledged as human being even for a second, by the official top of the hierarchy, touched him.
I emailed Dr. C. to thank him for this small good he did for my son. He, in turn, emailed big thanks for a positive note from a parent in our helicopter parent community.
I walk down school hallways a lot in the course of my days going from classroom to classroom. Sometimes, I am distracted or weary and don’t want to have to even acknowledge a person as we pass. But I remember Dr. C and his small gesture that was significant to my son in that big anonymous school.
Never too late for the smallest good. You never know how it will spread.
Maya Angelou said: “I’m convinced of this: Good done anywhere is good done everywhere. For a change, start by speaking to people rather than walking by them like they’re stones that don’t matter. As long as you’re breathing, it’s never too late to do some good.”