Sitting in a meeting on Friday I was getting a little restless. How is it that we can sit in meetings hour after hour and day after day. Twenty or so years ago I was contemplating the ability for employees to sit in a meeting for two or more hours and thought that this was a sure sign of mental illness. Ah, another tangential misdirection.

So, in this meeting I was asked a tongue-in-cheek question. A friend of mine turned and flippantly wanted to know "what is the most important thing you've learned from me?" It was offered to stump me and for a bit of comic relief.

Last Saturday I had an experience that had been on my mind several times since. On a long bike ride I was joined by several hundred fellow cyclists. It was for an event that I only know at CSLC. CSLC was painted several thousand times on the pavement with arrows pointing to route changes, turns, food, etc. I wondered what was going on. But I didn't have an opportunity to talk with the crowds of bikers who were obviously part of this CSLC thing.

I headed north and the crowds thinned. After a solitary half hour I came upon a cyclist who was busy repairing a flat. It's common practice to inquire about the state of a stopped rider. Every time I'm stopped along the road just about every rider who passes asks me that question. So I do the same. This fellow was pretty frustrated. He'd gotten a late start for the event, a hundred mile ride. And now he was fixing his third rear tire flat. I asked if he could use a new tube. He reluctantly took it. We talked as he replaced the tube and got the wheel back on the bike. He didn't like the idea of charity and kept asking for my name, address or some way he could get a few dollars to me. It really wasn't any big deal. I didn't want any money. I made him promise to help someone else in the future and that would be all the payment I required.

So I briefly related this story to my friend. The one in the meeting who was trying to be funny. You see, a favorite movie of his is "Pay it Forward". A year or more ago he told me about the movie and suggested I watch it. I know own a copy.

interesting, isn't it. How we influence each other and how that makes a difference in the lives of people we briefly meet along the way........
10:45:02 PM    comment []