I wasn't particularly feeling inspired to do anything yet, because I knew I had to type something big to bridge the first and second halves of 2012 together (much like I did last year). So, I decided I'd go through my "slowly waking up" routine: lurking on the Internet and keeping a window on standby in case I came up with something to type. Now, this process takes about two to three hours, depending on what my plans for the day are and when they kick off. For this particular day today, my confirmed schedule involves work at 1500, with nothing else in hand. So I figured, "two hours ought to be enough."
That was 0800. At the time I began to write this entry out, it was 1127.
Now, usually, when I'm going through this slow wake-up, I'll more often than not have no less than fifteen tabs open on Google Chrome. More often than not, a decent portion of 'em will either be pages on Wikipedia or TV Tropes, two of the Internet's biggest time-sink websites in history. (Not that that's a bad thing...)
Somehow I ended up on the real life section of the "Crowning Moment of Heartwarming" page on TV Tropes. As a known cynic with occasional misanthropist thoughts, I was stunned to see that there are still people willing to help others out there in their own way. Naturally, reading a page like this would stun anyone with any degree of misanthropy, and while I know that for all my sarcasm and jackassedness I'm still a good guy (I hope, because your mileage will vary.), there are moments in life that force me to stand back and wonder why I'm still kind at times. Reading stories like these remind me that the world is worth living in and that people still deserve kindness - even if they do deserve a .50 caliber bullet to the face.
However, that's not the story I'm here to talk to you about. I'm here to tell you about one particular entry I read that shook my very core and reminded me about my past, the present, and the promises I intend to uphold in the future.
And to think it all started with a picture.