18 Oct Happiness & success through generosity
We recently enjoyed this article by Daniel Tomasulo from PsychCentral. We hope you enjoy it too…
My nickname is eleven-fifty-nine. That is the time I show up at the bank on Saturdays. They close at noon. I know the tellers. They laugh each week when I come in. I laugh too. I always promise I will try to get there earlier next week. I never do. Life just gets in the way.
I went to the bank this past Friday. It is my writing day, and I was writing what you are now reading. I got there about 10 a.m. The tellers laughed, checked their imaginary or real watches and wondered out loud what day it was. I told them not to expect this from me again.
As I filled out the deposit slip, an unkempt, scraggly man carrying a satchel got in line. I noticed the tellers paying attention to him and his sack. My anti-terrorism paranoia took over and I watched as he made his way through the line. I finished filling out my deposit slip and got in line, two people behind him.
He was not your typical stone-faced, impatient customer. He smiled and nodded at the tellers. They each kept a keen eye on him. I heard him tell one teller _ã–today_ã_s the day._ã My paranoia burst into full bloom.
When he got to the front of the line, he reached into his bag.
_ã–I got a surprise for you,_ã he said, grabbing out of the bag something with a handle.
I took the cell phone out of my pocket.
He took something out of the bag:
A banana.
Then another, and another, and another, handing them, one by one, to each teller as they let out smiles, oohs and ahhs. He emptied his bag and each teller thanked him for the treat.
I put away my cell phone. I reasoned it would be silly to report a bank robbery where there was no robbery, the holdup weapon was a banana, and the _ã–criminal_ã was a local farmer.
Yes, I have an active imagination.
My teller filled me in: Every Friday for the last three years, this farmer has brought the tellers something he_ã_s grown. _ã–He grows and imports some of the best around,_ã she told me. She added that they all go to his stand every week, and they are excited to tell everyone about his magnificent fruits and vegetables.
He_ã_s not a bank robber _ã” he_ã_s a one-man marketing genius…READ MORE HERE