I work at the Issaquah Municipal Court House 10-20 hours a week as a security guard. The people I interact with throughout the day are often homeless people, criminals & drug addicts. I smile and say hello to each one as they enter the building and as they leave I wish them a good day. I can make sure the courtroom is safe while being pleasant at the same time. A week ago my boss came into check on me and she brought a guard to give me a break so that we could go chat privately. I was told,” We have had complaints that you are nice to these people. They are criminals,homeless and drug addicts, and did you really share girl scout cookies with them?” you are not to be nice, you are not to smile, you are not to be friendly!”
In response to this counseling I said, ” I will continue to be kind , understanding and friendly as my job description does not say I have to wear a frown and be rude, it says I will check each person to make sure that they are not bringing any weapons into the courtroom. I can do this without making these people feel any worse than they already feel. These people are at court for Christ sake and they are trying to turn their lives around why not try to lift them up instead of pushing them down.” I will admit it does feel nice to have people thank me for being kind.

Today a small group of drug addicts, criminals and homeless people invited me to have lunch with them in the park. They had gone to the food bank and picked up some snacks and so joined them in the grass and listened to their stories. After work I came home and picked up a tent that has been sitting in our garage for 10 years I went back downtown to meet one of the young families I had lunch with to give them the tent that I had told them they could have. John Ingram from Homeless Outreach was with them and was then able to transport them to the Tent City in Redmond.

I might get fired for being nice but I can live with that!

A few years ago I was making hearts for people with broken hearts, emotional breaks, functional breaks and just down right broken hearted in this photo you can see one of the hearts ,I put a small turtle on the heart to remind the recipient of the heart to take it easy and recover at a slow pace.

Today’s Quote
“Just don’t give up on trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.”
– Ella Fitzgerald
About Ella Fitzgerald
With her three-octave range, a purity of tone, and a wonderfully expressive voice, singer Ella Fitzgerald has been called the voice of American jazz. She was born in 1917 in Virginia and began singing professionally at age 16. Her rendition of the nursery rhyme “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” launched her stardom. Her best known recordings include the Cole Porter and George Gershwin songbooks; she also toured with Duke Ellington’s band. She died in 1996.