Leave That Bike Alone!

I went to my community pool today. It was a perfect day for it. It was sunny but there were those big fluffy ones that block the sun every few minutes. They block it long enough to give a touch of cool as they pass by the sun then the heat once again.

We have a beautiful park where I live and we have a rockin' cool pool. Adult and kid sections, water slides, patio overlooking the pool, the works.


Today it was really crowded so lounge chairs were at a premium. Luckily, my sister and niece got there early and secured a chair. Custom dictates that if you "claim" the chair, you leave something on the chair while you are away. I don't spend a lot of time sitting in the chair; I spend most of my time standing in the water at the edge of the pool, in the adult section, reading my book. But, Sue had gone to the trouble of getting me a chair so it seemed rude to abandon it.

I'm glad I didn't. After returning from the concession stand for a drink I saw an empty wheelchair not far from the pool edge. There was a family there for the day, mom, dad, son Dylan, and grampa. None of which had a chair. Dad approached me and asked "Are you leaving?" I told him I wasn't. Turns out he was trying to find a chair for his father-in-law who had a partial amputation of his leg. I offered him the chair, he declined, I offered again: "No, really, I spend most of my time in the water". Finally he agreed to take the chair in trade for keeping an eye on my beach bag.

I have been feeling kind of blue lately. I have experienced and am experiencing a few sad events lately and I have also watch some REALLY bad behaviour go down. But giving up that lounge chair was the best therapy I could have had. Someone once told me "We are only happy when we are doing something for someone else". So true. Doing something for me is great for about 30 seconds, but doing something for someone else was great for the rest of the day. Kind of a cool buzz you just can get from anything else.

As I left I wished the family a good time for the rest of the day and headed over to my bike. From a distance the bike just didn't look right. I thought maybe someone just bumped into it while locking their own bike. Imagine my shock and horror when I realized someone had deliberately tampered with it. They has twisted the handlebars around 360 degrees causing the read brake cable to pop out of its socket. They also released the front brake, twisted the gear shift, and broke off the new headlight I installed.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE? What kind of a person just screws around with other people's stuff just for S & Gs? I'm not someone who gets all bent out of shape about material things. They are, after all, just "trinkets and a treasure pile that moths and rust and thieves and such would soon enough destroy." But really. Have some respect. Its just a bike, I know, but how about some respect for the person who uses the bike? I just don't know...

I took a deep breath, repaired the damage, and refused to let some mean spirited person ruin my day.

Thanks to T who gave me the idea for this post - it would have just been a rant without the message you sent today.

Do something nice for someone, even a smile can change the world. It can change yours too.