Lost Guitar Picks And Good Samaritans

My daughter has started a fundraising effort to raise money for her class trip to France AND recycle used gift cards and hotel keys. (You can read about it here, if you're interested) Aaron, who owns 2 Fat Guys & A Pipe in Allen Park, MI offered to sell some of her guitar picks in his store, so Alicia put five packages in an envelope and mailed them off.

Then Aaron let me know that the envelope, and Alicia's thank you note, arrived, but the envelope was open and the picks were missing. So I did what we all seem to do today; posted it on Facebook.

Totally let down by the U.S. Postal Service today. They lost the Picks by Guitarishy my daughter sent to a store.

Apparently I have a Facebook friend, "Dave," who works for the USPS. "Dave" asked for all the info and said he would do some checking. When he couldn't find them, he sent me the info on how to file a loss report.

We hear a lot about the "power" of social media. But all social media does is empower good people, like "Dave" and Aaron. Sure, without social media they never would have heard of my daughter and our situation. But they didn't have to step up.

I think the "power" of social media is that it gives people the opportunity to be heroes in a grander scale than they already are. I have no doubt that Aaron and "Dave" are helpful and heroic on a daily basis. And that no one ever hears about it. Given the opportunity to be bigger and better, they took it.

I must admit, I don't always take those opportunities. But I will now. I've been inspired by the generosity of two "friends" I don't really know, and I plan to be the same kind of hero for someone else that they've been for me. That is the real "power" of social media.