It Doesn't Hurt To Be Nice!

Last Monday, August 20th, I was on my way home from spending Sunday at my daughter's home for my granddaughter's fifth birthday party. Yes, took lots of photos. Couldn't help not taking lots of photos.

O.K. here I was on my way home from there and stopped at the B.K. Lounge for breakfast, uh, that is Burger King if you didn't know. So eating breakfast in the parking lot, not into giving my self insulin shots in public so did it in my car before I ate, I had been mulling over going by the Botanical Gardens just out side of the city of Athens, No, not Greece, Georgia.

So I decided to go by there even though my favorite building would not be open. You see the visitors center houses the Orchids and other tropical plants and I love to take photos of them. The moment I start walking down the drive to the side where the International Garden is located I see flowers being watered so start taking photos. One of the employees driving by in a truck said that they were going to be turning off the water soon and went on down the drive. Didn't think too much about that cause my attention was on the flowers.

I worked my way down until I catch up to where the employees were working and just to be sure that I was right about the visitors center being closed I asked the two men working with the flowers if it was still closed on Mondays. The older of the two said yes, Mondays the visitors center was closed. He then asked me what kind of camera I was using.

We talked a while about digital versus flim cameras and working in the darkroom opposed to working on the computer in Photoshop. He asked if I liked digital better than film and why. Will not bore you with all the tech stuff we talked about since unless you are into cameras digital or film or other wise you probably don't want to know what was said, or care what we said.

As I was about to walk on up to take more photos of the plants and flowers he asked why did I want to enter the visitors center. Told him I loved the Orchids and had wanted to photograph them. That it wasn't often I got the chance to visit but even knowing it was probably closed I didn't want to miss a chance to take some photos of the other flowers which were in bloom. So it was not a waste that I would take photos of the ones outside of the building and enjoy my visit. He said well, if I had my keys with me I would let you in but go round to the back and knock on the door until one of the workers inside comes to the door and tell them Ken the head curator of the International Garden said it was O.K. for you to come in to photograph the flowers inside.

Just by being nice, taking the time to talk with someone I had just met and had no idea who he was I got to take hudreds more photos than I probably would have taken outside. It was so hot I had intended to leave way before noon. Getting to go inside to take photos where it was much cooler I ended up taking over a thousand photos and yes, lots of photos of the Orchids and even wrote down the names of them so I can label them when I get to post them on here.

Ken looked just like any of the other employees who work around the botanical gardens. He didn't dress any differently. He was just a nice man who loves plants and wanted to share a few minutes of his time to talk about my interest, photography. It was pleasant talking with him about both photography and flowers. He has a great job taking care of the plants in the International Gardens. By being kind to him and answering his questions about photography and just being myself it resulted in being able to take photos of the Orchids I had given up on thinking I would get to see that day. He didn't have to tell me who he was, he didn't have to tell me I could go inside to take the photos. But kindness and being friendly got a reward I had not thought I would get that day.

So, do we have to rush through the day ignoring others just for our own pleasure. I could have been rude and ignored him or given him a short reply so I could have gone on to take more photos before it got too hot to take them outside. Even though I knew I was losing time for photography, I took the time to be nice. Even enjoyed our conversation since it was about a love of mine, both photography and flowers. He shared in that as well, his love of his plants and flowers and offered me in return a chance to enjoy the Orchids.

When I can print out some of the photos of the Orchids I'm going to send several to Ken as a thank you for his kindness. It never hurts to take the time to be nice to others. Who knows what rewards you may receive in return. The best return is you may actually make a new friend. There is always room in my life for a new friend.

It doesn't hurt to be nice!