Astounding

One day, while I was driving to class I was reminded of how funny we humans are. Here is the story from that day:

I was on my to Accounting class, in order to the master the way of the numbers, and I stopped at the light at Spring Creek and Greenville, which I am used to because it seems that the city of Plano has intentionally made it impossible to get from the the high way to Jupiter without stopping at that intersection due to a red light. While waiting for the light to change I noticed on the left side of the street, on the sidewalk, a young male, probably around the age of 17 on his bicycle. He was a white kid, that doesn't really have any bearing on the story just fyi, and he had long, curly, frizzy, dark hair. He was stopped at the intersection as well, waiting to cross. He was wearing head phones. He was head banging to the music in said head phones, head banging on beat (or so I imagine). I thought to myself " I really hope he continues to head bang while he rides his bicycle across the street". I thought this because I thought it be funny to see him riding along, head banging to the beat, with his hair flying all around. But in all honesty, I didn't believe he would keep head banging. I thought for sure he would just ride normally across the street. And then the light changed for him, and he crossed in front of me and all the other drivers waiting our turn. He never ceased the head banging- and I mean this was intense head banging while riding his bike across the busy intersection. I was astounded, I had to keep watching him, and I looked around to other drivers, we were all watching him. We kept watching him as he rode down the side walk away from us, still head banging with ferocity, with his wild, curly, frizzy hair bouncing around like crazy.

It makes wonder when I see that kind of stuff. Makes me wonder what is going on the head of the head-banging kid? What's going on in the head of the guy at the gym who decides he needs EVERYONE else in the gym to hear how hard his work out it is, by screaming as loud as he can every exercise? What's going on the black guy's head who walks around with head phones, but is audibly rapping while walking around the mall? And the crazy people we see on COPS or Jerry Springer, what is happening in their brains!?! Astounding I tell you. I read a book about the violence and rioting of the English soccer fans, and how once the individual became part of the mob or crowd, all reasoning, logic and humanity left the individual, bending and changing their will to that of the crowd. People are killed, cities completely vandalized, unheard of violence all happening at the same time, what is going on in their minds. Astounding I say!

Then there the other people: the one's doing good:

The person at work who is always encouraging for some reason, what is going on their head that makes them decide to do that? Mother Theresea, probably seemed out of her mind to the people around when she started her ministry, astounding! The people at Charity Water, World Vision, Tom's Shoes, and the list goes on, who give up on trying to collect as much for themselves and pick up the burden of giving to those who don't have water, food, shoes. Astounding I say!

As humans we are capable of extreme violence, but also capable of extreme mercy. We are capable of building an empire, becoming millionaires, losing it all, starting over, and getting it all back, but we are also capable of extravagant generosity giving almost all of our earnings away. We are capable of acts of love or acts of hate.

I want to be known as the astounding human doing good. Because we are all funny, we all do strange things. Like the screaming guy at the gym, I bet he thinks we are nutts for not needing to yell out during our work outs. I bet the kid on his bike wonders "why are those drivers not head banging to some awesome music right now?"But it's about taking that weirdness and making the world better.