The Escalator

The other day I went to North Hills to visit someone and get something to eat.  As I was coming up out of the parking deck I noticed that the down escalator wasn't working.  I stared at it as I rode the up escalator.  I went to Chick fil A where I was greeted and served by the most beautiful, kind, and considerate Chick Fil A worker I have every seen.  I mean she deserves a raise for as good as she was.  I'm just sayin.  Oh yeah Josh was there too! 

Anyway while I was waiting on my food I told them something which I thought was very profound.  I said, "did you know that an escalator never breaks, it just becomes stairs?"  They looked at me funny and laughed.  I think they thought it was joke, in fact that really pretty chicken order taker asked me if I was going to blog about it.  Of course I said yes. 

Here's the thing, it wasn't a joke.  I think that an escalator is the epitome of a positive way of thinking.  We have all heard the saying, " do you view the glass as half full or half empty?"  We have to choose which way we are going to look at life.  Yes we all get down about things and we sometimes are in a place where nothing goes right and everything goes wrong.  I understand that, but why can't we be positive?  Why can't we be like the escalator?  Obviously something is wrong when it is broken and not moving on it's own but even though it is broken, the main purpose behind the escalator is still there.  We use the escalator to get from one place to another.  When it breaks down, that opportunity is still there and the world doesn't end.  People still walk up or down in even through it isn't moving.

Why does our life seem to stop when bad things happen?  Why can't we continue to move on?  Yes there are repairs that need to be made to get us back to 100% but that doesn't mean that we have to stop everything and think that our life is over.  We can continue on just like those stairs / escalator.  We can push forward and not allow ourselves to be shut down.

So the next time you come to a "broken" escalator and you start to walk up those stairs, remember that we too can keep climbing when we are broken.  We don't have to stop.  We can be stairs for other broken people who need a way to get past the hurt and the pain they are feeling.  Be the stairs of life when the escalator of the world is broken.