For years I sat under the preaching of Dr. Jack Hyles and heard him say often, “Be good to everybody because everybody is having a tough time.”

Not long ago I was taking my mother, Esther White, who turned 101 on March 26, 2015, to the dentist. I took her walker from the trunk of the car, and we were walking on the sidewalk to the office. As we were entering the building, a man using a walker was exiting the building with a sad, discouraged look on his face.

Mother has often said that it is disappointing as you get older to admit you need a walker to walk, glasses to help you see, and hearing aids to help you hear, but the alternative is being unable to walk and “giving up on living.” A remark like that is typical of my mother who looks on the bright side of life and tries to bring sunshine to the life of everyone she meets.

As my mother passed this man whom she did not know, she said to him, “Run any races lately?”

The man looked at Mother and her walker with a very puzzled look on his face as if to figure out if she was really talking to him. (I have news for that gentleman; Mother talks to everybody!) Then he smiled and said, “No, but when I do, I will probably be behind you!”

I do not know the man’s name and probably never will, but I feel like he will remember this chance meeting and maybe share it with someone else. I did notice that he continued to smile as he walked with his walker to his car. To lift someone’s spirit, we simply have to get our eyes off our own problems and focus on someone else.