Sometimes...

... doing the right thing looks a little risky.

I noticed this old lady standing on the corner. She was dressed for winter though it is quite warm out. Dressed to the nines too. As I stopped at the corner, she walked up to the car and asked if I could give her a ride to the Giant grocery store. The bus had come early and so she missed it and the next one wasn't for an hour. She spoke with an Italian accent. She is 90 if she is a day and is smaller than me so I figured if she tried anything I could take her right?! In today's day and age, saying yes to helpless people has become a hard thing to risk and that is sad. I felt it was the right thing to do so I let her in. Here it turns out she is from the Abruzzi region in Italy and was astounded to hear that my family was Ascoli Piceno. Veritable neighbors. She was sweet and appreciated my help.

She made me think of my great grandparents, Luigi & Giulia. They came to Ellis Island over 90 years ago. They arrived in Gibbstown in February. Great Grandmom Giulia was midway through a pregnancy that resulted in my grandpop. She gets off the train and all she sees is cinder block houses and nothing special. Grandpop told me she was so "disappointed." Still they would probably agree with me that sometimes doing the right thing looks a little risky. Like boarding a ship to cross the Atlantic while your are pregnant. Like leaving your home to try and make a new home in a far off place. They did it though. Gibbstown was nothing special compared to the history and beauty contained in the city limits of Ascoli Piceno.

Perhaps the reward of doing the risky right thing is that something special can come out of it.
Over time Gibbstown became more special because they were there. They produced 3 children who all contributed to making the town something special, from the trees they planted to the people they interacted with on a daily basis to the organizations they helped found and run. They are and were special to the people of the town. Pillars. People who are pillars can sometime even outlast ancient Roman pillars found in old cities.