Stuff That Matters In Life

Amy saw a little dog on the way to school this morning. “Oh, it’s soooo CUTE!”

You know how girls always say that!

Then Amy asks, “I wonder what makes something cute?”

I replied with another question, “Are there characteristics that everyone in the world would consider ‘cute’? Are short, small, fuzzy puppies universally considered cute?”

What do you think?

Then later on that day, I had another experience that made me think of that conversation with Amy.

I was at Kaiser hospital for a doctor’s appointment (more on this later). There was a little girl probably about 3 years old running around. She had curly brown hair, a face full of laughter, a chubby finger pointing to various objects she saw, and saying, “Mama, dada.” My immediate thought was one of delight, “Oh, how cute!” I watched her for a while.

At the same moment, an old lady with her walker, hair short and gray, face wrinkled, back hunched over, moved ever so slowly across my path. Would anyone give her a second look? I smiled at her, but she did not see me. Her eyes were on the ground in front of her, careful not to miss her step.

We’ve all been there. We’ve been that child that received positive attention.

We’ll be there too, as an old person who will be overlooked. Cute? No. But we hope we will at least be smiled at.