1. Today, I interviewed a woman who is terminally ill. “So,” I tried to delicately ask, “What is it like to wake up every morning and know that you are dying?” “Well,” she responded, “What is it like to wake up every morning and pretend that you are not?”
2. Today in downtown San Diego, I watched a blue collar Mexican man get harassed for being Mexican. It was a blatant act of discrimination. And the man actually began crying. As he left the office building, he took off his jacket. His t-shirt underneath read, “I love the USA!”
3. Today, I was looking through the Facebook remembrance groups of two people that died from my high school. The girl was sweet, smart, quiet and unpopular. She was killed by a drunk driver. The guy was inconsiderate, rude and popular. He was the drunk driver. His group has 602 members. Hers has 48.
4. Today, I was traveling in Kenya and I met a refugee from Zimbabwe. He said he hadn’t eaten anything in over 3 days and looked extremely skinny and unhealthy. Then my friend offered him the rest of the sandwich he was eating. The first thing the man said was, “We can share it.”
5. Today, I waited on an elderly woman at the local restaurant where I work. She left me a $90 tip on a $10 tab with a handwritten note that said, “I’m 86 and I can’t take this money with me. So please spoil yourself with it.”
6. Today, after my teacher witnessed the bullies picking on me, she walked over to me, knelt down at my desk, and said, “If people don’t like you because you are different, just be thankful that you are different from them.”
7. Today, my younger brother turned 7. He has severe mental disabilities that prevent him from talking properly. It takes him a long time to study a word and get it right. In fact, there are only 12 words he can say properly. One of them is my name.
8. Today, while I was driving my grandfather to his doctor’s appointment, I complained about hitting 2 red lights in a row. My grandfather chuckled and said, “You always complain about the red lights, but you never celebrate the green ones.”
9. Today, my father told me, “Just go for it and give it a try! You don’t have to be a professional to build a successful product. Amateurs started Google and Apple. Professionals built the Titanic.”
10. Today, in the grocery store parking lot, I watched a man run as fast as he could with a packed shopping cart and then jump on the back for a ride. He smiled and chuckled aloud as he rode the cart all the way to his car. He was in his mid-40′s and wearing a formal suit and tie.