A few years ago, a friend sent me a restaurant gift card for Christmas, and I picked a pretty, sunny Sunday afternoon to use it. It felt good taking my two grown sons and daughter to a nice sit-down restaurant instead of the fast food places we usually ate at. The meal was delicious, and we all had a good time just being together. The gift card covered almost all of the check. I reached into my wallet to get enough cash to cover the rest. I saw two bills in the front of it. The first would cover the rest of the check. The second would cover the check and give the waitress a nice tip. I reached down to pick out the first one.
      At that moment, my mind flashed back to 30 years ago. I was working as a busboy in a restaurant much like the one were in. It was long hours of hard work for low pay. I went home just barely making enough to feed my young family. I also remembered how more than once I saw the waitresses counting their small tips while worrying about how they were going to pay the rent and buy their kids the things they needed. I remembered the pain in their eyes and saw the sadness in their faces at the end of the day.
      I blinked and was back in the present again, with my fingers touching the smaller bill in my wallet. I smiled, pushed it back down and picked out the larger bill. I folded it around the gift card and covered both of them with the check. As we all got up form the table, I handed them to the hardworking waitress. ”You keep the change,“ I said with a smile and a happy heart.
      We are all one family in this world. We live together and suffer together. Do your best to be kind. Do your best to be a good person and replace the suffering with joy.