Appreciation

As I was on my way home from work today, I really thought about how appreciative I am for my life. I feel truly blessed to have good health for my family and I. We are blessed with amazing parents and siblings. At my work, I truly feel my residents are not so lucky.
I work at a permanent residence with chronic homeless alcoholics. They are honestly some of the happiest people I have ever met. They are just happy to have hot meals and a roof over their head. When I grew up, I had a picture of a homeless person and it wasn't pretty. Now that I have actually met them, they are completely opposite of what I thought. They are cleaner than I am! They are some of the nicest people I have also ever met. They are never rude nor do they degrade you. They really do talk to you just like any other human being. Which leads me to my other point. Why are some people just complete jerks to others before EVER talking to them?
I hear about all these middle school girls talk about how some girls are nasty and what have you, when they don't even know the truth about these other girls! They are so hooked on how they look that they label them before they have a chance to hear a single word out of their mouth. They are so set on making these other girls' lives miserable that they will say whatever comes to their little simple mind about anyone. Even when there are so hurtful. They never think about what that other girl is thinking when she gets home. Does she honestly feel that way? It breaks my heart to see these girls act like complete fools over a boy who in the end will leave them for someone else. I realize teens think that no one cares and no one listens, when I can listen for 20 minutes and get only what happened that day.
I have now decided that I will make it a point to make someone else's day. Whether it is just telling someone their hair looks nice or helping my residents look for a relative they have lost contact with. Have you wondered what you could do today to make someone else feel better about themselves?