The Good Morning Lady

I commute by public transportation twice a week from the Bronx to lower Manhattan.

It's typical to have a long commute when anyone is working in Manhattan and my commute is no exception.

It takes me 1 hour and 15 minutes to get to work:
I start on an express bus (the stop is 4 blocks from my house) and it takes me from the Bronx to Manhattan. I get off the bus (at 23rd street) and walk a block to the subway. I ride the train 4 stops and then exit, walk up 4 flights of stairs out of the train station and finally 2 blocks to the store.

I wake up very early and am at the bus stop at 7am (which is early to me). I sometimes sleep or pray on the bus, because its the longest and most comfortable part of my journey.

As I take the final steps of my journey and I come up the last flight of stairs to be above ground, I'm met every time with a smiling older Chinese lady. She has a huge smile and yells out "GOOD MORNING". She is one of the people who hand out a free NY paper. Most of them don't say a word and are grumpy. They hand the paper to you and look away - its their job.

Now the Chinese lady isn't required have to say a word, but her morning cheer is sincere and contagious. I walk away smiling too and encouraged to pass it on. I'm really not the most outgoing person in the morning. A lot of people aren't.

Say Good Morning, whether they say it back or not. Initiate a smile, a word of kindness and go beyond your comfort zone, whether you feel its deserving or not. It goes a longer way than we'll ever realize!

Make someone's day. It could mean the world to them!