Good People
I don’t know about you, but life can feel pretty heavy these days, especially if you’re looking for a job, scrolling through the headlines or analyzing your grocery store receipt.
It can be hard to stay above the negativity. And yet, we have to try, otherwise, it consumes us and grows stronger.
My 84-year-old Dad told me an uplifting story the other day that I want to share on his behalf, and maybe it will serve as a reminder of some of the goodness in the world.
One recent afternoon, he went for a walk on the dirt path that’s behind his and my mom’s house. It connects to the Highline Canal Trail that stretches for 71 miles through neighborhoods, parks, and open space in metro Denver. It’s lined with cottonwood trees, tall, wild grasses and occasionally you’ll see deer, fox, and coyote.
The trail is a favorite destination for everyone – walkers, runners, and kids on bikes. My parents have meandered along this trail and its offshoots nearly every day for three decades. Along the way, they’ve met countless people, some who simply smiled, said a friendly hello, and others who became walking companions and turned into lifelong friends.
This day, my father wasn’t venturing on the trail to exercise; he was on a journey. He’d heard from fellow walkers that a man he used to run into regularly on the trail, recently passed away. Jim had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died a short, four weeks later. Devastating.
Dad always liked Jim and was touched to learn his family had created a memorial for him along the path. Just past the playground, in the wood of a felled cottonwood tree, the park service helped them chisel a big smiley face and accompanied their artwork with a plaque that read: In Loving Memory of Jim “Papa.”
Dad traipsed across the bridge, through the snow and found the tribute. Then he sat on a nearby bench and reflected. Sadly, these days my parents hear far too often about a friend, former colleague, or neighborhood acquaintance who has passed away. They’re just at that age.
“I wanted to pause and think for a moment about life and the great people I’ve been able to meet, many of them on that trail,” Dad told me.
Perhaps he was also considering his own mortality, feeling grateful for another day to walk outside, breathe the fresh air, and soak up the Colorado sunshine. Eventually, he got up and made his way back to the house.
An hour or so later, Dad was surprised to hear the doorbell ring. Few people visit my folks these days, and he really hoped it wasn’t a solicitor. He tugged to open the sticky front door, and saw two women standing there on the porch – one in her 60s and the other in her 30s. He figured they were a mom and daughter.
“Hello there,” the older woman said with a friendly grin on her face. “By chance, are you Joe Trexler?”
Mystified why this unfamiliar woman might be referring to him by his formal name, my dad hesitated a bit.
“Yeesss. That’s me.”
“Well, sir, we found this wallet sitting on a park bench down along the trail,” the younger woman said holding up the brown, leather billfold. “We wanted to return it to you.”
“Oh. My. Goodness,” Dad said. “It must have fallen out when I was sitting down. I had no idea!”
He paused for a moment.
“You know, not many people would have returned that, let alone walk to my house to give it to me. Can I please give you a reward?”
The two ladies looked at each other and smiled.
“Nah,” the older woman said extending her hand to give my father his wallet. “We don’t need a reward. We believe in Karma.”
“Well, ladies, please call me Joe. And thank you. It’s nice to know there are still a lot of good people out there.”
Yes, it can be easy to get caught up in the negativity these days. But the goodness is there, my friends. We must push back against the dark and the ugly and fill it with the light and the beautiful.
We must know, deep in our hearts, that there are a lot of good things happening in this world, and plenty of good people in it. The key is being open to seeing the goodness, feeling its impact and then spreading it.