GOOD NEI GHBOURS

A heartwarming collection of stories about community and kindness

- Cathy Free

THE SUNSHINE MAYOR 

Almost eight years ago, Al Nixon decided to begin each day from a bench with a spec tacular view of the St Petersburg, Florida, waterfront. “I call it ‘life rising’ because watching a sunrise makes me feel centred before starting my day,” said Nixon, who works for the city’s water department. A year later, a woman stopped to say hello, and she said something that changed his perspective on his daily ritual. “She said, ‘You know, every morning when I see you sitting here, I know that everything is going to be OK,’ ” Nixon recalled. “That’s when I knew: I needed to pay attention to the people walking past. I needed to make eye contact and let people know that we mattered to each other.”