R "Normal" acts of citizenship today r now exceptional acts of kindness?

Back in the day,if we saw a car with its lights on in a parking lot many of us would actually check the door was open and turn off the lights. Today,I'm hesistant to check a door because it might give the wrong impression,but I will try to help out in other ways. For example,yesterday at church I saw a car with lights left on (by the way,this is becoming more rare given many cars now have auto-turnoff) & everybody who walked by ignored it. I made a point of writing a note with the make of the car & license plate & handed it to the usher on the way in so they could make an announcement. That's normal citizenship,but today its almost an exceptional act of kindness. People don't normally do these things anymore.

Another example is lost & found. I found a wallet legt next to a computer at the newport beach library.I thought about simply giving it to the "deskies" but I am aware that sometimes these things still get "lost" in some cases (ie not all deskies can be trusted; & once u give it to them,there's no way to verify). So I took a peek inside the wallet & found a name & googled it & found an email and made contact with the owner.he was a uci student. I arranged a time to meet him & make sure he got his wallet back safe ^& sound. I didn't expect nor want a reward. This is so-called "normal citizenship". Or used to be. If it was my wallet, Actually,I would expect to never see it again.

I don't think the guy whose wallet I returned appreciated the fact that he got his wallet back wirh everything in it.he texted me a simple thanks afterwards. He's still accustomed to normal good citizenship. He's a lucky guy. Most of us have been burned enough to know this is not normal. Its exceptional.

But I pray we can someday return normal citizenship to normal citzenship. And exceptional acts of kindness will become even more special.

Vk