STEALING OPTIMISM

I Heart Humanity

that is, until it steals from me

by author

I live on a big hill. One of my neighbors on the hill has eleven hundred children. This neighbor is a college.

And as far as I can figure it, all eleven hundred children park their cars on my street.

My little street, which barely has enough room for me, let alone eleven hundred.

When we use our car to take us to our volunteer work at soup kitchens and our local Home for Headless Children, some student parks in our spot, the spot right in front of our front door (sometimes they’ll leave their car there for a month), which means when we get home, our hearts empty from all the love we gave away to the hungry and the headless, we have to park fifty miles from our house and walk.

My wife and I realized something long ago: “We’re going to spend most of the rest of our lives walking home from distant parking spots.”

But then the game changed.

How?

Here’s how: One of our other neighbors did a marvelous thing.

They bought a pair of traffic cones and put them in their parking spot when they were away.

It worked.