Have a Little Faith by Lindsay Banner

Life's funny in that a single lessons can be brought to your attention through many different mediums within a short time frame when it is the exact lesson that needs to be learned. 

Instance #1: Recently, I had the opportunity to visit my brother and spend the long weekend enjoying the company of his new friends, as well as the friends I had met on my previous trip to the big D.  As always, when in the company of my little bro, I had a great time - perhaps too much of a good time - but a great time nonetheless.  On the day I was getting ready to depart, my mom, who was also visiting, and I decided to grab some guacamole and drinks before I flew home. As is the family tradition, we were kicking back and reflecting on the time spent together, where we are in life, and all the other things that needed to be shared before our conversations were limited to impersonal conversations due to distance and lack of interaction - not that we don't communicate daily, it's just not the same. During my reflection, I realized the most prominent characteristic that had stuck out about my brother during my most recent visit was his ability to find the wonderful characteristics in each person he had shared with me during my visit and embellish them. He was so positive and loved each of them unconditionally rarely seeing any flaws. Ironically, as I was discussing this with my mom, I had just mentioned how somewhere along the way I had become so much more cynical than I used to be. I'm not proud of it, but leave it to my brother to make me wake up and realize just how much I had digressed from the positive individual I had once been.

Instance #2: Not less than seven hours later, I hop off the plane from Dallas.  I'm completing my daily Facebook stalk and stumble upon a quote I haven't seen in a while.  This quote was posted from one of my good friends from study abroad, and is a quote my dad would often refer to.

"People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered; forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives: Be kind anyway.  

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating others could destroy overnight: Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it may never be enough: Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway."

- Mother Theresa

It is one of my favorites, but perhaps something I had recently forgotten after getting caught up in the daily grind and the experiences that cause someone to become cynical.

Countless times, my dad preached you must believe in people.  Everyone has something to bring to the table and you must find it and emphasize it.  If you lose that belief, you are missing out on some of the most valuable and fulfilling experiences in life.   How quickly you can forget when someone isn't there to be that little bird chirping in your ear. 

Instance #3:  I return from the airport and enter my house to be greeted by my two amazing roommates and my roommate's dog after my trip to Dallas, both products of Craigslist.

Four years ago, when I first moved to Maryland (hard to believe it has already been four years) I lucked out when having only a week to find a place to live my college next door neighbor, Eric Baumgartel, so graciously offered an empty bedroom that became available.  The apartment complex was less than ten minutes from my new place of employment and I was living with someone I knew. Awesome!  Eric quickly moved up in his job and was able to take a better position a few hours away which required him to move. I had to find someone to move in and someone fast since I couldn't afford the place by myself.

Enter Craigslist. At the time, I thought this is a tool that everyone used to find roommates. In hindsight and upon hundreds of discussions with others as to "how do you know your roommate?" I realized it wasn't so common, although it seemed like the natural thing to do.  Believe in people and see where it will land me. You better believe Tony Banner was pushing me to find someone through Craigslist, but a little bit apprehensive about having his 22 year old daughter find a random soul to live with.  Some of my friends thought I was absolutely nuts. They thought I was compromising my safety, especially since I was considering living with a male. But by trusting my gut and meeting a few people, I landed Stefan Traylor as my first Craigslist roommate. Stefan was a blessing in disguise, not only did he pay rent and utilities on time, he was exposed me to so many new things, things that you just don't find in Clarion, Pa. He constantly pushed me to think outside the outside the box. So when he said, "Let's move into the City [Baltimore]" I agreed.

Over the course of the past four years, two of my three additional roommates have been Craigslisters. When I respond to the question "how do you know your roommate?" with "Craigslist" they do a double take and typically respond "are you serious?!" But in all honesty it has been one of the most rewarding experiences.  I have grown in so many ways and been exposed to so many new thoughts, ideas, and activities because I trusted in my gut and in human nature.  When my dad passed, Stefan was one of the first people to pick up the phone and call, and Tessa and Andrew, my current roommates, drove up the day of the funeral, a whopping five hours, to be there for it.  All because my dad pushed me to have faith in the good nature of people.

So maybe I'm not as cynical as I perceive myself; however, it is a reminder to sharpen the saw and remember to trust in others because each of us has so much to offer if we have a little faith.