The Man In The Gallery

He had to have been able to tell I was trying to close. It was long past five o'clock and I was outside taking down my flags and bringing in my "Open" sign when he wandered in. He was rude. He was impatient. He dallied among the beautiful and amazing works of my two dozen talented artists talking only and endlessly about himself. I wished impatiently for him to go. He irritated and aggravated and annoyed me with his arrogant and self-absorbed attitude. When he finally moved on, I followed him out and locked the door behind me to go find dinner. I met up with a fellow shopkeep, and relayed the story of the annoying visitor. After exchanging a few details of physical description, she told he "Oh, he's famous. They are reading his play down at the theatre right now." And it struck me then: It does not matter what you have done or achieved or accomplished. It really only matters what you are. If you have published books or won awards or saved lives, no one can tell, unless you tell them. But if you are nice and kind and interested in others, they can tell that right away. And you will be liked rather than disdained like my 'visitor' was.
Life really is less about what you have accomplished and mostly about the kind of person you have made yourself into and how you treat others because of the kind of person you are.