The innocence of a child

The innocence of a child is the purest compliment you will receive in life. Today I was doing some yard work for my parents, and while I'm scooping mulch, this little girl, no more than 7 years old, comes by, pedalling on the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street. And now she's pedalling, she says hi, and keep in mind, I have never seen this girl before, but I thought that was very friendly of her, so I said hi back, and she continues pedalling off into the distance and I get back to scooping mulch. A few minutes later, she comes back, this time pedalling in the opposite direction. At this point, I was thinking to myself, "well, I've already said hi, and I'm just scooping mulch," so I didn't think much of it. But she surprises me when she asks, "do you like Southview?" Southview is the name of the high school that I went to, and I assume she asked because she had seen my shirt from earlier. So I turn around and I say, "well, I went there four years ago, so, yeah, I do like Southview." And she says, "My sister does cheer for Southview." And I think, "oh, that's very nice, and also that makes sense." She hasn't stopped pedaling, by the way, so she's still pedaling off into the opposite distance now. But before she leaves completely out of sight, she tells me her name. And then she ends it with, "I appreciate you." Bear in mind, I've never met this girl before. I don't even know who her parents are, if they're even our neighbors. And yet this unprompted act of kindness completely made my day. From a young girl I've never even seen before. And yet, she ended our conversation by telling me that she appreciated me. A total stranger. And it maybe just goes to show that the world is healing and the younger generation isn't as cooked as we thought they might be.