A few weeks ago I was on the train. A young woman was sitting across from me, when a man came asking for money. The woman and I looked at each other, we spoke through our eyes… we would like to help, but he was a stranger, we did not know where that would lead, so we did not give any money.
Once the man left, the woman said, “I’m afraid to help people now.”
”What do you mean,” I said.
She told me that a few days before she was on the train at 1:30 pm. She had a seat close to the exit, where the doors open. There were probably 10 people on board. She was on her phone texting. A young man got up to exit, when the doors opened, he quickly grabbed her phone out of her hands and was gone!
She was startled, scared, in horror… all the motions we go through when we have just been robbed.
We discussed the fact that when we are on our phones, we are oblivious to our surroundings. We also talked about the sadness in having to live in a world where we feel we need to be invisible, i.e. to not bring attention to ourselves, dress plainly and so on.
This picture from Pixabay.com illustrates how easy it is for someone to pull the phone out of our hands.
I share this story today as a reminder to be aware of your surroundings. We never know when something like this might happen to us. I’ve been passing the word along to fellow passengers myself.
Tell your friends/family, even holding your phone, so it cannot be grabbed out of your hands would be a deterrent. We need to help each other.
On a happier note, we are having Spring weather. It’s beautiful.
GUESS WHAT – snow flurries predicted for Thursday!? We don’t believe it!
Anyone want to fly in the air? The time is coming. The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago has a new exhibit called, “
For those of you not in Chicago, you can see we take St. Patrick’s Day very seriously! Every year, they turn the river green. It’s a site to see!
For over a week, I have resisted going to the gym. I enjoy exercise when I am outside, walking/hiking, I love the fresh air. BUT going to the gym, just hearing the word “gym” makes me resist. Every day, I have good intentions; yet, fail to follow through.
A girlfriend of mine is going to Italy in May and was looking up travel tours. I’ve never done a travel tour… OOPs, I take that back. My mother found a 10 day river cruise in Egypt that we went on. It was a FABULOUS trip. A travel package was critical in seeing all of the different sites. We needed a tour guide, he gave us the history behind the Abu Simbel Temples, Giza Pyramids, the Sphinx — there was so much to see. Incredible!
Yesterday, while at the coffee shop, a young man came and sat next to me. I looked over and thought, “I should tell him he has some black dirt on his forehead.” As I was contemplating how to politely reveal this to him, I remembered it was Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent.
My second thought was of Sunday mornings when I was a child. If my mom said, “get out the griddle,” we knew we were having a breakfast feast. I have three siblings, so we would all do something. One would get the griddle, one would start to set the table, one would get the bacon and help make the pancake batter. Team work was key, we worked together as a finely oiled machine. Soon breakfast was ready!
This has been a COLD winter in Chicago. In the 20s Fahrenheit, not bad, but below zero temperatures are tough. For those of you who have never experienced below zero wind shield factors, I can tell you that your eyeballs hurt. I highly recommend staying in your warm climate and visiting Chicago in the Spring or Summer.
Brilliant Viewpoint 