I've worked in all types of jobs that require you to engage with customers every day. Some are just extremely rude and some are the sweetest humans you'll ever meet. With this being said, I've talked to a lot of people. Some ask me about myself, some vent about their lives, and some just want to talk (I'm just going to add in here that I'm one of the most awkward humans in America, so I usually just do the listening).

This day though was different. From the get go, he was so kind but he had a witty sense of humor. So from the first moment, I knew I would enjoy talking to this fellow. We began talking and some points of conversation stuck out to me. He asked my age and then told me he wanted to tell me something very important that I must remember at my age. He explained that he loved a quote that was like "when you stop thinking, you die" He explained it to me in reference to a child. He said children are constantly questioning everything and ask why. As you get older, a lot of individuals stop questioning and just conform to what's around them to avoid confrontation. People hate when their ways, ideas, beliefs are questioned even if they are not right. I believe that is the main thing that is wrong with adults and the younger generations. Some wouldn't agree to that but now that I look at certain situations and apply it. We don't ask why, we just sit back and don't do anything about it. And then he said to me "Kayla, when was the last time you stuck your tongue out at someone? Or even made a snow angel?" I answered him embarrassed and was like him the other day when my niece stuck her tongue out at me, I did it back. And last winter I made a snow angel when my roommate was shoveling the driveway. He goes, "I'm glad you said that. I'm 65 years old and do you want to know when the last time I did that was? It was today, I stuck my tongue out at someone at work. And last winter, I made a snow angel. And I'm not embarrassed because I will not let the child die inside of me. Because when that child dies, I die. People don't realize that but they go through the motions every day and they lose their childhood and what makes life beautiful.

Then after that he goes, "Kayla, can you go an hour without judging something or someone?" I looked at him and was like, of course, I can. He goes "Wrong, you make judgments about everything and everyone every day. It's forming an opinion or conclusion of something. Judging is always deemed to be such a negative thing, but simply it's just making a decision about something. For instance, I could hate a specific group of people (I don't, but I'm using this as an example). You could be in a room full of that group and no one would know because you're not responding and acting on your judgement. It's all about the response to your judgement."

And that's what I took from that conversation and I apply it to my everyday life now. It really hit me and I took so much from just an everyday man. It's about your response to your judgment. Everyone in this world takes their judgements and are so quick to act on them. Maybe that's the issue in the current events. You can't prevent people from thinking hateful thoughts, but you can at least prevent them from acting on it. The learning moment from just my little old serving job is, don't let the cruel world steal that inner child from you and know when it is appropriate to act on your judgements.