Reasons Why #2 - Sense of Community

One of my first Sunday mornings back in town I was rushing to head to church. This is rather common in my life, I find myself perpetually running 5 minutes behind. On this particular morning it was easier to grab breakfast on the go rather than try and make something at home. So I found myself stopping at a bagel shop near Citrus Hills. I quickly ran inside and got in line to order my food.
The couple in front of me were obviously heading out on the boat and I overheard most of their chatter. They were bedecked in boating attire, discussing the tides, asking one another if they had packed the sunscreen, and placing an extremely large sandwich order. So large in fact that I had to seriously consider leaving without ordering in attempts to make it to church on time. (At this point though I was already late and what’s the difference between being 4 minutes late or being 8 minutes late – not much, late is late.)
After I received my bagel (everything toasted with plain cream cheese), I darted out the door. As I was briskly walking in the parking lot towards my car, I noticed two young adults with their car hood up and obviously having car problems. I knew I had jumper cables in my car and even though jumping them would make me so late for church going would be borderline ridiculous, I figured no one else around would stop and help these kids. And then I saw the most wonderful thing.
Coming from across the parking lot was the large-sandwich-order-ordering-headed-out-on-the-boat couple. They had already intercepted the car trouble situation and even though they had grandiose boating plans for the day they were going to stop and help these kids out. They were willing to take ten minutes out of their bust day for a random act of kindness. Not only did my heart soar because I was off the hook and headed to church running only 8 minutes behind schedule, but it was the first time in the longest time I’ve seen strangers do something like that for each other.
While I’ve only been back a few weeks now, the number one question I keep getting asked is “Why did you want to move back here after living in a big city?”. It’s the little things like this that answer that question. You don’t see things like this in larger cities. Everyone is running in the rat race and no one notices when someone falls down on the sidelines. Its peace of mind knowing that in fifteen years, that could be my daughter and comfort knowing the people of this community will stop and help. This is the type of place I want to raise my daughter, it’s not a group of towns within county lines, it’s a community and that’s truly priceless. It’s just another reason why.