Father's Day

Today has turned out to be more emotional that I thought it would be.

During the very moving tribute to Tim Russert on Meet The Press this morning, one of the guests had pointed out that Tim could see the human flaws in people, and point them out in the humblest of ways.

Well, he has certainly pointed out mine.

I can only hope that I can be the type of husband, father and son he was to his family, and the world.

This morning I also saw the CBS Sunday Morning show interview with Journey and their new lead singer Arnel Pineda on Youtube. Another incredible and touching story.

I also called to wish my father a happy Father's Day.

What made it hard was knowing that he has lost most of his vision in what was his good eye this past week.

To add fuel to the fire, he is frustrated because the physicians cannot give him an answer as to why this is occurring.

He now has only about twenty-five percent of his vision left.


All this within a two-hour span...

Big hearts in big cities

Something I observed today reminded me that there are still a lot good people in the world despite the seemingly endless volume of jerks we encounter each day.

While I was at work today I had glanced out the window and noticed a very skinny, older man, in a dirty tee shirt and dirty jeans, leaning up against a short wall that separates a parking lot from the sidewalk on the northeast side of our building.

At first I thought he may have been one of the city employees who were currently working on a project in the street by where this man was, but it quickly became apparent he was not part of the crew when he whipped out a bottle of wine from beneath his shirt, took a big long swig, re-corked it, then stuffed it back down the front of his pants.

I came to the quick conclusion the he was most likely one of the many homeless men living on the outskirts of of the LA-VA property.

Seconds later, one of the actual city workers pulled up in a backhoe, waved at this older man, then parked and got out of his vehicle with a white plastic bag.

He then went over to the older man and proceeded to take food out of this bag and give it to him.

It was obvious this man was pretty hungry by the look of amazement on his face at the first sight of the food. It was the same look you see in a child's face when they first discover their presents on Christmas day.

The city worker then said a few words to him, waved, then drove off in his backhoe.

I'm sure it was obvious to the city worker that the older man was most likely homeless, and smelled of alcohol. But in a selfless act of kindness he was able to look past all that and simply saw another human being in need.

I hope they both had a very pleasant Friday.

They both just made mine a little better.