M Simone Boyd
I have Jury Duty today, and I am pretty excited. Jury Duty is our civic responsibility. I hope that I am picked and that I serve well. But, I have another reason that I am really excited. People will go to extremes to get out of Jury Duty. So, I’m hoping that the day will have some entertainment value also. Is that terrible?
After seeing Pete on my walk to work for 4 and a 1/2 years, he is gone. Pete and I weren’t close. He would say “Good Morning” and “Have a Good Day”, and I would politely nod and smile. On really hot days, I would hold my breath as I walked by…Pete had a tendency to smell on those days.
Sometimes, I would see well-dressed folk stopping to talk to Pete, and I often wondered “why are they talking to that homeless guy?” But, now I know why. Pete was kind and cheerful.
I don’t know his story, but I imagine life had dealt him a few blows. Despite living under a tree with all his possessions in a shopping cart, he was kind and cheerful. But, I never made time to talk to him.
The world needs more people like Pete. People that will be kind and cheerful, no matter what personal challenges they face.