As you head out for Black Friday, consider this.

A friend called a few weeks ago encouraging me to keep on writing daily posts, because she said, "The Shine message is an important one, especially in this day and age."  She noted that, because of my posts and your daily comments, her awareness of what it means to shine has increased.

She was zooming into the post office late one afternoon, only 20-30 minutes before it closed.  The gentlemen behind her held the door open, respectfully allowing to enter first.  Funny, in the split second it took for the transaction to occur, my friend noticed a fleeting moment of hesitation on the part of the man who held the door.

If you have been to the post office anytime in the last decade, you understand why.  Holding the door for even a single person could literally cost fifteen extra minutes in line.  And, if the post office was only minutes from closing then you know the line was already exasperatingly long.

Fifteen or twenty minutes passed before, finally, my friend was next up for checkout.  When the postal worker called, "Next," my friend turned to the man behind her and said, "Sir, it's your turn.  Thank you for holding the door for me on our way in."

If the story ended there it would be perfect, but it doesn't.

My friend's nine year old daughter was with her! 

"Mommy, why did you do that?  Why did you tell the man to go first?"  The rest of the way home my friend and her daughter talked about what it means to shine.

Think about this with me for a minute, will you?

Person A commits an act of Shine by holding the door.

Person B is conditioned to notice Shine and, because she is a loyal reader, understands the importance of Shine Principle #10, Spread Shine.  She, in turn, reciprocates his act of Shine by letting the gentlemen go ahead of her.

Person A is pleasantly surprised by Person B's act of generosity.  Subsequently, Person A is motivated to spread more shine by committing more acts of generosity.

Person C watches the exchange between Person A and Person B (her mother) and asks Person B why she let Person A cut in line.

In the span of just a few short minutes, Person A, and Person C joined Person B as warriors in the House of Shine's Shine Rayvolution.

Go forth today - Black Friday - and see how many Person As and Person Bs you will inspire to help Power the Planet with Shine.

Shining off until tomorrow...