I had an interesting little experience with human nature yesterday.  I took The Kid to the mall so she could hang with her friends for a couple of hours.  Of course, I had to make myself scarce – they will NOT be seen with anyone over the age of 18.  So I decided to scour some sales racks.  After trying on what seemed like 150 pairs of skinny jeans (that’s some genius marketing right there – don’t get me started), I finally settled on a pair.  Still with time to kill, I meandered around the mall.  I found myself upstairs in Dillard’s (which NEVER had decent post-holiday sales, btw.  You want sweaters – they’ll be on clearance in May.)  Anyway, I got to the “down” escalator and it wasn’t moving.   I noticed that a small crowd had formed.  People were looking down the escalator, over the railing to the lower level, and they all appeared kind of confused and lost.  I stepped up and noticed that there were no warning signs, no “do not enter” tape – nothing.  Muttering to myself “This is ridiculous.  They’re just stairs.”  I headed on down.  And low and behold, I started a trend.  After I led the way, all the others started making the trek down the staircase as well.  No one fell or got their foot chomped off or anything of the sort.  That little moment of leadership made my day.  It made me feel brave, smart – like a true leader.  And if the act of braving a stationary escalator led that small group of people to face their own fears and follow, imagine what we could do with real issues if we choose to take the first step.

Sometimes it’s the little things.   🙂