“Hi.  I hope you are going to have a great day.  Sometimes, you’ve just got to go out there, do your best, and grab what you can.  Make the most of your day and make it a great one.”

You may recall last week I wrote about a lovely man who is dying and his energy and attitude were incredible.  He lifted me up with his words and charisma.  Yesterday I called him to reconfirm an appointment to come and look at items he wanted to sell in order to donate the proceeds.  His outgoing message was quoted above.

I thought to myself with so much going wrong these days, here is this one gentleman who probably doesn’t have much time left, and yet he is making a very strong impact on those around him.  Touching them in an incredibly selfless manner.  We don’t see that often, do we?  Not in this me-me-me world.

It is difficult for us to reach deep down and pull up all the good that is within us, especially in the midst of the many challenges we face today.  But if this one man can project beauty and goodness in his darkest days, we can too.

So I will add only one thing to his outgoing message:  Smile a lot today, especially to those you don’t know.  You never know what challenges they are facing.