Keep your eyes open for praiseworthy things.
Our family was at a Fourth of July fair with games, music, food booths, huge inflatable slides and obstacle courses. I was standing in line with my then-twelve-year-old son, waiting for him to go up the massive Cliff Hanger slide, when we heard terrified sobbing from the very top. A little girl had climbed up and was stuck—she was too scared to slide down. After unsuccessful attempts to persuade her, her father made the very awkward (for an adult) climb to the summit, with a crowd of at least forty people silent and watching below.
Suddenly the woman next to me blurted out, “I think this must be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.” She turned to all the people around her. “When he comes down, y’all better clap! I hope everyone claps for this man!”
Up above us, the dad gathered his tearful little girl into his arms. With her face buried in his shoulder and her arms around his neck, he gingerly began climbing back down the almost-vertical staircase with her clinging to him like a front backpack. And with one voice, the crowd below started clapping and cheering. The dad was startled, then started grinning. You could tell the accolades made his day.
When the commotion died down, I asked the woman beside me, “Is he your husband?” “No, no,” she said with a laugh. “I just try to make it a habit to encourage people, you know? It has to be a habit. Otherwise, it doesn’t happen.”
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