This week a co-worker of mine passed away at his home. He was perhaps in his mid-forties, with a school-aged son. Divorced as he was, and since his supervisors were out of the office during the week he died, he wasn't missed and discovered for several days.
I wish that before he'd died, I'd had the chance to tell him how he had inspired me, the same way I've told other people:
One morning I was wrapped in a sullen fog, as the cobwebs usually take a while to clear. As can happen when tired, the thoughts loitering in my head were mostly negative.
Suddenly a quietly upbeat "Hi, Joe!" came over the cube wall, and I turned to see Mark's smiling face there. I was surprised a bit, since Mark kept mostly to himself to the point of seeming introverted. He'd happened over to my wall because the fax machine was there and he needed to use it. He didn't need to wish me a good morning, but he did. And it completely overhauled my mood, as if a light switch had been thrown. It was a powerful lesson in the impact that a random act of kindness can have on a life.
In general, I try to say hi to people that I pass in the hall... if they're not looking at me, I look at them hoping for eye contact so that I can give them that contagious gift of sunshine. For the most part I've refrained from doing the same to people at work in their cubes, not wanting to disturb them. But as I reflect on this story, maybe the best way that I can pay tribute to Mark is to think of it as a gift, one that needs no return, one that might rescue them from whatever burden they might be bearing by proving that they are cared for.
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