Reassurance markers

Pennsylvania is a huge state. I learned that once driving through it from Michigan back East when I became lost at night.

I was following a main road and turned off in Pittsburgh to find Chatham College (now Chatham University) that a friend was attending. I thought I'd surprise her with a visit, but when I pulled up, I was told she was out for the night, so I drove back to find the highway. (Yes, the old days, before cell phones!) I suppose, because I was tired and assumed I'd drive back during the day, I didn't pay attention to the route and there were no reassurance markers - those signs that let you know a highway is ahead, that you're on the right route.

I'm looking for reassurance markers with our economy right now, like many others. It's a global issue at this point and will require resolve to address. But I'm constantly reminded how we're all interconnected and that reassurance markers - of the spiritual kind- are all around us.

A woman whose husband has ALS in a state far away contacted me to let me know she needed some equipment for him. That very day, an hour earlier, a person sent me information about an available item - that matched and was in the same state. Using GPS, I found a hauler and the equipment was there within two hours.

I take that as a reassurance marker. No money exchanged hands. Everyone felt good about it. There was no downside. Those folks all played a part in solving a problem that allowed the man with ALS to remain in his home longer. It was a problem an insurance company wasn't going to solve, certainly not on time. And those involved just happened to be "in the right place, at the right time" and acted on it.

This story may do nothing to restore your confidence in the economy, but perhaps it will help restore your confidence in human nature. I see things happening like this almost every day. Perhaps, I thought this morning, it was a good day for me to share this particular reassurance marker.