Am I in time? People must know! At least I think they should…. This is not the first time! It has happened before!  I heard about it not long ago in a town in the Midwest. A town a lot like Owego, a small town where people had become comfortable with each other, set in their ways, busy very busy. Sometimes too busy, trying to make a living, raising children, worrying about retirement, paying the bills. At least that's what I heard, about a small town in the northeast… or maybe the north east of the Midwest.

 Well on with the story. The guy who told me knew a guy who was married to a girl who's mother and father saw it first hand. It all started one year when a young child asked his mom if he could put his Valentine to his dad up on the refrigerator. His mom tried but there were so many things taped on the refrigerator she suggested that he give it to his dad to hang up at the store where he worked. At first the dad forgot to hang up the Valentine but when he heard his child was coming to the store he rushed and put it up in the front window. The other shopkeepers saw it and not wanting to be out done they got Valentines and put them up in their front windows. Soon kids from the local school saw  the Valentines going up on downtown windows so they wanted to put some up as well.

 Well it wasn't long before most of the stores in downtown had Valentines in the windows. Some were messages of love, some said thank you, some just had a cute funny saying like ‘Hi, pretty girl,' ‘You look so fine,' ‘Won't you be my Valentine?' Well I'll tell you no one knew about positive magnetic concentric energy at that time. It seems that with the high buildings on both sides of the street and warmer air from the sun hitting the pavement, all the positive messages from the store windows drifted right through the glass right into the street!  The warm air near the ground and the slow breeze from the west kept swirling the positive messages around in the street and people without knowing it came down to see the Valentines and walk right through the positive magnetic concentric energy!  Wow you would not believe what happened. First shopkeepers started to smile and say good morning to each other. Some even opened their stores five minutes early where before they were five minutes late. Shoppers came down and walked along smiling and talking to each other. Older couples were even seen holding hands! Cars stopped when people tried to cross the street, smiling and waiving at the pedestrians. Little kids started to laugh and talk and mind their mothers. Dogs stopped chasing cats, and brothers and sisters stopped fighting. Shopkeepers swept their walks and then kept right on sweeping and did their neighbors walks. Some clever young ladies over at the high school asked the football players to come down and look at all the Valentines and before you knew it the guys were opening doors and buying the girls chocolates and even holding hands!  I heard months later that two doctors had to downsize their practice because people were so happy and friendly they forgot to get sick! People stopped watching TV in the early evening and came downtown instead for an early evening stroll past the shops. Shopkeepers started staying open longer and had more money to buy new stuff for the stores. The downtown tavern even started free beer night! All this because of Valentine messages that were straight from the heart, from the children, hanging in the windows right there in the heart of downtown Owego. Well it wasn't Owego but someplace else, someplace like Owego.

 Who would have figured? Of course back then, who had even heard about positive magnetic concentric energy?  Who could have imagined that one kind word would lead to another?  That smiles are catching, or that thank you would be followed by your welcome! Who would have thought that dads would try really hard to find more time for their kids, or that moms would be willing to put aside the laundry for a few minutes to help make a Valentine message, or that the message could spread around the whole neighborhood and the town and maybe even the county. Who would have figured? Now that's funny? I forgot why I was writing this letter. I think I'll go take a walk downtown instead…. Get a little fresh air . . . Exercise . . . Look at the Valentine messages.

Wayne Clark