The Covering

     Last night I was redoing my trailer, fixing it up and re-coating the cedar when a young kid came running up to the house to hand me my newspaper. He always smiles and says just a few words but his attitude is awesome. I stopped him to tell him a story. I told him about myself and when I was younger I did the newspaper just like him, I loved it and enjoyed the reward of awesome customers who appreciated my happy attitude. He smiled quickly and then I pulled out my wallet and gave him 10$ and said "I knew this one guy who always gave me money because that's what he did, he appreciated me and he told me that lots of times." So I looked the kid in the eyes and said "You have a good attitude, keep smiling, keep being awesome and enjoy what you do."
     As he turned around, he looked over his shoulder with a huge grin and said "Thank you so much!!!" It was like he just received the lottery for being himself. Now that I look back I could see why that one man always gave me money, he wasn't rich by any standard, in fact the house he lived in was weathered, some shingles were often missing and one of the windows was broken. The paint on the house was so faded that you could see the bare wood and the grass was always overgrown. Every time he came to the door he looked disheveled and in need of a good shower but he was in my opinion one of the most giving people, foul in language but someone who you by assumption would believe he was in all pretenses a bum. I learned early on in my daily newspaper route that you should never judge a book by it's cover. In fact on that same route I had a family that I thought had it all together and they spoke well, they smiled at all the right times and presented themselves in such a kind manner but when it was time to collect the money for the route, they often gave excuses, lied repeatedly to me and I lost money. I new from that moment on that when someone tells you something it doesn't mean much unless there is reputable action that follows.