You never know when you might have a chance to make a connection and you never know when that connection might bring you something good. A simple show of appreciation for a restaurant manager who donated his proceeds to the schools turned into a connection that brought free naan (Indian bread) for my church and business to a restaurant that really just needs people to try it. I have written about it before, but it really is as simple as acknowledging every person as a person. I don’t know where people learned to ignore others so completely simply because of a role that they are serving at the time. You never know when one connection might lead to another making the world a little smaller. My family was talking the other night about people who had signed on to my mom’s guestbook on her webpage who ha known each other for years, but didn’t know that they both knew my mom.
When I was in high school I never paid to go to the movies or to rent one. I bowled for free. I got pizza for free, ice cream for free, sub-sandwhiches for free, I even managed to get a few free shirts right of their backs from people I didn’t even know for free and I won some free shoes a couple of times. Several years after high school I went to rent a movie from the place I used to as a kid and I was told, “your money’s no good here.” Apparently my legend persisted though I had no idea who the person behind the counter was or what I had really done to deserve that treatment. I found out that fall when I did a teaching practicum that there was a day named after me at my high school and students in the language arts department got extra credit for dressing up on Thursdays (something I did while a student). I suppose it’s what celebrities must feel, but the thing is it wasn’t so much that I was especially popular, it was that I made good connections. The people who got me free things where they worked did it for the most part because they knew that if I could do the same for them I would and more.
It’s been a while since I was getting all sorts of things for free, but when I was doing youth ministry I managed to get things donated to the group at a prodigious rate for retreats, creating a haunted house, for mission projects and all it took was reaching out and asking (admittedly how you ask does matter). Recently I was reminded of my past connections when for the tenth time or so I received a free nimbu pani (it’s a lime and soda Indian drink) and this time from a new manager that I hadn’t met until that moment, but who I struck up a conversation with. It wasn’t a big deal for him to give me the drink, but the point is that he did it because I spent some time genuinely asking about his day. Connections are huge in life and you never know when a network you create may give you the opportunity to do something for someone else or to receive an act of kindness. I feel very fortunate to have people I call friend all over the world. They may not get me free stuff, but it means something knowing there are people out there you can call on when you are in need.
Tripping the Light Fantastic 