From the "Made My Day" files comes this.
A couple of months ago, I was at the grand opening of the new HEB store and as I am walking around in awe that a town this size gets a store like that I hear the description of my car over the PA and I go to the front and am informed that the police want to see me. My first thought is 'what the hell, I am not Chrispierce, what could they want with me'?
I walk out and see an officer with a woman covered in tattoos, about 6 facial piercings, half her head is shaved and the other half has purple hair. The officer explained that the young woman had accidentally scraped the rear panel of my SUV and had found an officer to report it. At first, I was pissed because I've got a total blacked out unit and then that dissipated into wonderment. Here was this young woman that had I just seen her would have snap judged her integrity just because of how she presented herself and not figured her to be such a standup person. She could have easily just driven off. I wasn't the only one impressed by this, the female officer was equally as impressed and quick to remind me when she saw that I was pissed that the young woman didn't have to do that and seemed damned near amazed.
It was 1.5K in damage and her insurance paid for it so all I was out was the inconvenience and what a small price to pay for a valuable "don't judge the book by it's cover" lesson for a guy that should have learned that many times over but this last one stuck.
The hardest thing to fight as one ages, or in my case, gracefully matures, is becoming cynical and becoming a curmudgeon because the world is a screwed up place. I've lost a lot and have felt that bitterness swell up too often but that afternoon I sat on my patio with a big ole smile on my face and didn't even think about the damaged quarter panel. That young woman, one that I would have never figured to be someone to restore my faith in people, taught me a great lesson, and I am never too old to learn.
