The Little Things in Life

Magicman · February 04, 2012, 03:39:48 PM

I was in the grocery store this morning and spoke to a lady that I have known for any years. I know that she is lonely because her husband died a couple of years ago. Anytime that we meet, we exchange greetings and small talk. As I turned to leave she said "thank you for speaking to me". I then told her that I would go out of my way to speak to her.

"Thank you for speaking to me". I guess that we never really know how we affect the people around us. Just a small gesture such as speaking or recognizing a person can brighten a sad day for them. It is so easy to just go about our busy lives and never think to brighten another person's life.

"Thank you for speaking to me". I had to repeat it again, if only for myself.

Edit: I did not start this thread to bring attention to myself, but rather to encourage all of us here to share different experiences that we have had with the "Little Things in Life".

kenlt30 · February 04, 2012, 03:48:53 PM

Thank You for being so thoughtful Magicman. You seem to be a good person.
Kenlt30

Okrafarmer · February 04, 2012, 03:56:50 PM

Yes. We do well to consider other peoples' needs even when it would be easier to ignore them. I remember around 12 years ago, I was having a frustrating day at work, and for no good reason yelled at one of my co-workers who said something that just annoyed me while I was trying to concentrate. (what he said was totally innocent and not bad at all). Later that day, I found out his wife had left him the previous day and been very mean to him in the process. I felt terrible.
:-[

Okrafarmer · February 04, 2012, 03:58:24 PM

Quote from: kenlt30 on February 04, 2012, 03:48:53 PM
Thank You for being so thoughtful Magicman. You seem to be a good person.
Kenlt30

Hey, welcome to the forum, Kenlt30! Yes, you will find that Magicman is a great guy to learn from and be friends with. ;) He has a great track record here.

Magicman · February 04, 2012, 04:11:31 PM

kenlt30, I missed your first post back on December 03, so Welcome to the Forestry Forum. You must have a WM LT30, so how about an introduction up in the Sawmills and Milling board?

Warbird · February 04, 2012, 05:43:39 PM

Good thoughts, MM. Thanks for sharing.

kenlt30, welcome to the FF!

Cedarman · February 04, 2012, 07:00:56 PM

Had an old geezer from St. Louis call the other day and wanted just 6 boards. That's a 240 mile drive for him. It took about 4 or 5 tries for him to get directions. I just stayed pleasant and told him we would be here for him when he came. When he came he could barely get out of the truck and I thought "Oh, boy". He wasn't sure just what we could do or what he wanted, so I showed him some lumber and said we could cut to any thickness and plane if needed. He finally figured it out and my sawyer started making some boards.
I always ask people what they do for a living, in his case what he had done for a living.
Hard hat diver for 50 years. I got him started talking and stood back and listed to all kinds of neat stuff. He was a really neat guy with a great mind and lots of stuff to tell.
We put his boards in his truck and on the way he went. I would love it if he came back. One of the more pleasant episodes to happen at the mill.
As MM says , take the time to say hello and speak a few kind words.
He is one of the reasons I will sell any quantity of lumber. Can't sell anything less than one board, if you cut it in two you have 2 boards. Profit involves more than just a monetary return.

dlabrie · February 04, 2012, 07:21:31 PM

One day last summer, I was in Walmart. I was in a rush and not in a good mood. While shopping, I noticed a special-needs adult with a care giver. He was approaching everyone that went by. I thought, "keep a wide berth of him, get my stuff and get out". So I get into the 20 items or less line with the grey cloud still over my head and guess who lines up behind me. Yup, the special-needs adult. He starts talking to me and reaches out his hand. I shook his hand and he and his caregiver lit up and high-fived each other. He then pulled my hand towards the caregiver to shake her hand. It seems that that is what they were practicing and I made his day. I felt a bit ashamed that I had avoided him in the first place and then realized that I really had no reason to be in a bad mood and really needed to count my blessings. I left the store smiling.

Magicman · February 04, 2012, 07:27:18 PM

I have never shared it on the FF, but I have no minimum b.f. for sawing a job. A couple of weeks ago, I moved the sawmill to a customer's location, set it up, and sawed two logs. I collected a whopping $40, made a new friend, and was home well before lunch. The fact is, he had two logs that he really wanted to have sawed, and I have a sawmill. I can assure you that the goodwill generated by what I do not even consider to be a saw job, and did not even pay my expenses, will pay dividends down the road somewhere, sometime. It is not always about the money.

I did not start this thread to bring attention to myself, but rather to encourage all of us here to share different experiences that we have had with the "Little Things in Life".

I think that we have the ball rolling now.

paul case · February 04, 2012, 08:37:02 PM

I have found I can make people laugh.
It only takes a smile or a laugh or them seeing my redneck belt. I like to keep it light and easy and it lightens the mood of those around me. Life is much easier when we make it easy.
Jake Hess used to say ''Things will either get better or get worse or stay about the same, In the mean time we cant do much about it anyway.....''
I would add that we may as well enjoy the time we have here. I always have something to smile about. PC

Okrafarmer · February 04, 2012, 08:56:11 PM

The other day I had to go into the doctor's office when I stepped on a nail. An older lady came in after me while I was in the waiting room. She signed in and sat down. The receptionist called back after her, waving a piece of paperwork, "Mrs. -----, are you still the same?" Meaning, I guess, is all your information still the same. Mrs. ----- got a funny look on her face, and replied back decidedly, "Yep, I'm still the same all right."

I said, loudly enough for both to hear, "If we weren't the same, we'd only be worse, right?"

That lightened the mood.

sawwood · February 04, 2012, 09:13:41 PM

I have had two saw jobs and both where small logs. One was 4 cherry logs
14" X 40" long. When the guy called and said what he had i said in needed
one that are 4 to 5' long but bring them and we will see what we can do. I
had him help and we got them cut to what he wanted. Total them up and it came to $18.00 but he gave me $40 and said i did a good job. The outher
one was 3 small holly log that only total about 15.00 but received $20 and
a thank you. Gave both of them cards and i am sure it will work out later.
I try not to turn down work even if it doesn't pay, just knowing it helped
some one out.

Sawwood

Okrafarmer · February 04, 2012, 09:15:13 PM

Yes, thankfully, people have done me good deeds like that too at times.

sawguy21 · February 04, 2012, 09:40:50 PM

I witnessed a wonderful event last week. A trio including a lady in a wheel chair were in the local watering hole on Saturday afternoon. Somehow a regular patron discovered it was the lady's birthday, he left and returned with a bouquet. He left it at the bar with instructions it was from the establishment.
The bar tender presented it to her, I started clapping and everyone joined in.
Gordie is a bit of a crusty old curmudgeon, he has his rough edges, but that thoughtful gesture made the lady's day. She wheeled herself out for a few minutes, likely so we wouldn't see the tears.

Bill Gaiche · February 04, 2012, 10:12:31 PM

MM your shear politeness shows everyday. You made someones day,how great that is? Making someone feel good should happen more than we can count. We will never know how much it effects someones day by mearly saying hi or speak a couple words to them, lets just hope it mattered.,bg

sandhills · February 05, 2012, 01:54:39 AM

Magicman, I would like to second what Bill Gaiche said, and just in case you ever wonder if it's noticed or not you were the first to welcome me to the forestry forum and I remember. And yes BG, I firmly believe it does matter.

Okrafarmer · February 05, 2012, 02:30:14 AM

All the people who reach out and help the newcomers are greatly appreciated. Sometimes new people just feel a little awkward, or shy, or reluctant to express themselves, but people like MM and others are great at drawing them in. This is true on the FF and in real life, though I have not met MM in real life, I mean it works that way both on line and IRL. ;D

Chuck White · February 05, 2012, 08:49:59 AM

Very nice MM.

Most times it doesn't take much to make someones day!

Welcome to the Forestry Forum Kenlt30

chain · February 05, 2012, 09:56:02 AM

One good deed deserves another. Always heard some of the worst disasters happen on the prettiest of days. I attest: A employee and I were outside our shop picking up and cleaning up and waiting for the dew to dry to begin the day's spraying.

Just out of the blue and down our driveway is a little girl came running towards me, as she came closer I could see red on her face and arms, she ran straight into me, grabbed my jeans and pulled me and pointed toward the bridge over the hiway. "help me , Please!" she begged...all the while blood was coming from her nose and mouth, her hands bloody..she continued,"my family is in a wreck and it's on fire!"

Trying to recover my shock of this brave but bloody little thirteen yr. old girl, I looked down several hundred yards and could see some smoke and something crumpled in the weeds. We put her in my truck and raced down to the wreck, a horrible sight, her mother under the wreck, her crippled sister llying near in the weeds, a driver in serious condition, they had fell 70' through the bridge and hit headon the service road and bounced landing upside down! By this time the little girl looked to be in shock and I had my helper put a cover around her and hold her, I began stomping the grass fire, I knew not to move the girl injured on the ground but just then my neighbor drove up and thankfully had a fire extinguisher and put the engine fire out.

By this time emergency personel from everywhere began arriving, all hands were trying to lift up the vehicle from the mother. The brave little girl was sitting on a guard rail, still bleeding, watching. I grabbed an officer who I new well and told him to put her in the ambulance. Well, to shorten this up the mother died at the scene the little girls became foster children, they were form out of State but had a Grandmother living in Missouri the authorities would not let her care for them....years later now the little girl is all grown up with two children, grandmother is the baby sitter and I...she thinks I'm a hero...but no...that bloody little girl is the true hero..God gave her the strength, I know, she gave me my strength!

sparky1 · February 05, 2012, 11:54:58 AM

I some days find that im in a pissy mood, and not as personable that I typically am. Then i will run across someone and we start talking and usually always leave the conversation both smilling. There really is not a greater feeling than the feeling of helping someone. Even if its as simple as holding a door for a couple seconds longer walking in or out of a gas station.

Taylortractornut · February 05, 2012, 11:48:20 PM

I think alot of times a older folks get to feeling lonesome or that folks overlook them or dont have time for them. Theres an ornery concrete worker in town. Alot of folks dont like him but he good. He works alone except has an old man that he gets to help him set grade. I see how much it means for the old man to get out and be part of something. I think you have to remember that if it goes well you might be in that shape one day.

On the other hand really young folk get looked over some times. I was doing a demo job last summer that took a few days. The home owners had other contractors there and compmany they were entertaining. I saw this little blonde headed boy on the steps everyone was walking around and ignoring him. He was trying to show his parents a toy excavator he had and his mom was too busy with her friends and cell phone. I had a 15 inch stump about dug up and I called him over and let him sit in the cab of the hoe. I kindas guided the levers a bit and let him make 3 scoops and then pull up the stump. Now everytime I see him in the store he has to come over and talk.

Okrafarmer · February 06, 2012, 01:02:30 AM

Yep, I remember a crane operator that had pity on me when I was about 6. He let me sit in the cab of the old cable crane with him at the scrap yard (after all, it was probably the safest place to be while he was loading scrap). I was always a precocious engineer of sorts and would watch work being done while I was young. My dad had 5 acres cleared for a runway and I watched the excavator operator like a hawk, when I was about 14. When he took his lunch break, he put me up in the cab (Caterpillar 215) and throttled it down, and said, "Now, don't touch this, this, or that. Just see what you can do while I have my lunch." I pulled two stumps while he ate. 8)

thecfarm · February 06, 2012, 08:37:48 AM

I just saw one of my teaches the other day. Asked him if he was Mr Smith,I use to be he said. ;D I told him who I was. He wanted to know about marriage,kids,ect. 89 years old,he is now.
It only takes a moment in life to be nice to someone else. I do wish others would take the time.

Okrafarmer · February 06, 2012, 08:42:57 AM

;D That's a typical response from an old man up in Maine

doctorb · February 06, 2012, 08:51:34 AM

Magicman-

Your story reminds me of a great song from John Prine entitled, "Hello in There." Here are a couple of the verses.

Ya' know that old trees just grow stronger,
And old rivers grow wilder ev'ry day.
Old people just grow lonesome
Waiting for someone to say, "Hello in there, hello."

So if you're walking down the street sometime
And spot some hollow ancient eyes,
Please don't just pass 'em by and stare
As if you didn't care, say, "Hello in there, hello."

I like your story, the song, and the message of both.