"You're amazing!"

I don't know if this has anything to do with my "looking for the good" pledge or not -- but today as I walked downtown I saw the most heartwarming little scene.

L'Ecole Cathedrale (the small Catholic elementary school downtown) is right next to a busy one-way street.  The kids were out on the tiny playground for recess, and some boys were playing soccer.  One of them kicked the ball and it went flying over the fence and out onto the street (which probably happens at least once a day).  Two guys were walking past on the sidewalk, and one of them, a young man in a big brown parka with the hood up,  dashed out on the street to retrieve it.  The oncoming cars all slowed down, and there was no honking -- it was as if this was just a matter of course.

The young man lobbed the ball back toward the schoolyard, but unfortunately ... it landed in a tree just outside the fence.

Without hesitation, he plunged into the big pile of mushy snow under the tree and then climbed the tree, got the ball out, and tossed it down to them.

The kids all yelled, "Thank you!  You're amazing!  You're amazing!" while he stood there on the sidewalk, leaning against his friend while he took off each of his running shoes to dump the snow out of it. 

I was struck by the huge grin on the guy's face.  It made me wonder when the last time was that he'd been called amazing.  For that moment, he was a hero.