I have always believed that every individual I meet has a kind bone in his body. More often than not, this excessive optimism sometimes hurt. But why continue my stubbornness?

You see, I encounter a lot of people in the course of my work, writing, traveling, and even going to church or to a simple trip to grocery stores. I think I’m fortunate enough that not a day passes, without someone giving me a cheerful greeting, lending me an encouraging smile before a nerve-wracking interview, showing me directions when I find myself lost and couldn’t locate a street, or share a laugh when an outrageous situations just pop itself before me.

These experiences reminds me time and again that chivalry is not dead, that virtues’ still abound and re-assures me that we’re not reverting to the ice age when cave men dwelled, walked in ape-like fashion, ate flesh and wore animal skins.

However, today when technology should have made life more convenient, it only made it more complicated. We wear the clothes of the civilized men and yet, still cultivate the uncultured ways of cavemen. What we often mingled with are shells of men who have undergone evolution and bear an attractive surface; pretty to look at but rotting underneath with maggots feasting in his soul, his spirit driven by his desire of material gain.

Elders often remind me to beware of these walking empty shells and to keep away from them. But idealism says otherwise, not all that you see is what they represent to be. I’ve walked a thousand paths and made journeys to places where I don’t want to be but where circumstances brought me. There were times, when I thought I was already tired and might as well give-up, only to come across a person who I never met before, not a member of my family or among trusted friends. A person who readily offers comfort when I’m too proud to admit I need it, a Friday-faced individual who will suddenly share a smile or break into gales of laughter over an inane thing or to a man who would let me pass the door or the stairs first as his sign of respect to my femininity.

Sometimes, I find myself lucky to run to a person who happens to possess a sense of humor and imparts his wisdom with me as he encourages me to broaden my knowledge.

Any human being can be unpredictable and they claim that it’s only women, when in truth we all have the same trait. We are all like that, owed it to self-preservation, one of the main ingredients of survival, along with sharpness and cunningness, at times ruthlessness if the need arises. It’s human nature. But in the process of that pursuit we lose ourselves and we end up more confused.

That’s why I keep roaming the streets, mingling and trying to keep my optimism alive. Who knows … I might chance upon individuals who will again amaze me with their simple gestures and didn’t even notice that it comes out naturally for them…*****