Protecting The Best in all of us...

[via]

I was on the train the other day and in waltzed a beautiful woman in her twenties. She was talking intensely on the phone about someone who had annouyed her earlier. She sat down, got off the phone and inserted her right thumb into her month. She sucked on her thumb for the 15 minutes she was on the train, and she sucked it hard.

My first reaction was "What the heck?
My second reaction was to take off my sunglasses and verify that I was not mistaken.
My third reaction after I was sure I was watching an adult suck on her thumb was to take a picture and blast it on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. I brought out my iPhone, and then, I felt the nudge in my heart to stop and reconsider. A nudge to reconsider the reason why I am comfortable having the world make fun of her "shortcoming." I decided against taking a picture.

The story took a different turn when she got off the train. A few seconds after she got off, she ran back to hold the doors open for another stranger who was running to catch the train. If she had not held the doors open, the stranger would have had to stand for 20 minutes in the blistering sun to get on the next train. Something in my heart shifted especially at the unassuming way she ran back to hold the doors, the joy on her face indicating she was happy to have helped and the joy/relief on the stranger's face. Here was a simple act that indicated to me (not that I was not aware, but I lost sight of it) that she is more than an adult who sucks her finger. 

There is always a best in each and every one of us, and the world would be a better place if we focused on protecting it rather than encouraging others to mock the worst in others. I had no idea what grief or self-esteem issues she encountered growing up with her finger sucking habits, and featuring her on my social media would have done little to build her up or edify myself or anyone else.

Beloved, You are Loved Absolutely!