DUBLIN, Ga. — You know driving down the road we can get lost in our thoughts, worrying about chores, problems or maybe dinner.
One Dublin man has a very simple way of turning the tide one car at a time.
If honks measured happiness, Herman Melton is a hit.
You might call him the Ambassador of Bellevue Avenue.
"I'm going to make it a better world and sometimes it's hard to do, but I'm going to try to do it anyway," Herman said while waving at cars.
With every flick of the wrist, Herman makes it look easy.
It's a simple gesture that can generate a big payoff.
"I've had so many people pull over and tell me they were having a bad day and me waving at them made their day," he recalled.
Herman lives at a senior care facility nearby. He just walks out, hits the sidewalk, and does his thing.
His sister says he's getting some notoriety around town, and people recognize him.
"A lot people at a restaurant they'll say, 'I know you -- you're the guy that waves,' and I'm like, 'Yup,'" he said with a chuckle.
The greeter in his golden years is also an artist.
He's sold a few, but if you want one, chances are he will just give it to you.
"Now he's a troublemaker, he's afraid somebody is going to get his bamboos, I guess," Herman said while holding a picture of a panda.
He's a nice guy in every sense of the word, and part of his mindful mission is to combat things he's seen in his past.
"I run into a lot of people that was mean and I didn't want to be the same way," he projected.
Not a chance.
Brianna Franks heard Herman liked to paint, so she and her co-worker brought him a care package.
"So we got him some paintbrushes and some canvases," she said.
And she figures this is just a small investment into the man that gives her so much.
"It's just him out here waving and it touches everyone that passes by," she exclaimed.
In life, we don't get a handbook for happiness, but Herman may give us an example of how one simple act of kindness can have a ripple effect on strangers.
"I always say, 'Lord, bless them when they come this way,'" he said genuinely.
Herman will have to have surgery in a couple of weeks but he says don't worry, because he will be back out as soon as he recovers.
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