Yesterday I answered my company phone and it was a man who said "I have a package here that FedEx delivered and it has this phone # on it." I said, "Does it not say who sent it? I didn't send it but this is a business phone. Does it say Galveston Area Builders?" He said yes. I said "OK, maybe one of the guys sent it. Are you in the building industry?" He said No. I said "what's in it, a gift?" He said "I don't know, it's not to me."
I said, "OH... who's it to?" He said "Beatrice Wilson at Galveston Area Builders!" I said, "OH... that's ME!"
" OK", he said. "Should I call fed ex to come get it. I can give them your address if you give it to me or I can meet you somewhere to give it to you."
We went on with this conversation for another 3 - 5 minutes and I kept thanking him. He just kept saying, "well sure -- of course." I said to him at one point, "thank you so much. Some people would just have kept it." He said, "well, that just wouldn't be right." I thanked him a couple more times before hanging up the phone and when I hung up the phone I couldn't help realize how grateful I was JUST for someone having done the right thing.
With all that goes on in our society on a day to day basis, good and bad, I wondered when it was that we began to expect so little from people. When did we decide to just settle into having high hopes but low expectations of others. Do these low expectations contribute to the lack of understanding as to what American exceptionalism really is? Is that why so many of our youth don't understand what American exceptionalism is?
Perhaps if we start raising our expectations of one another again, we might find that hope is more often met on a higher level as well. Just a thought from Bea to you. :)
