In this short motivational monologue, the speaker marks the 30th anniversary of Hollister and greets Alistair before sharing a personal story that ties the biblical Good Samaritan parable to a recent experience at Philadelphia Airport. While waiting early for a flight, the speaker notices a young mother struggling with a wet, broken grocery bag full of baby supplies. After other travelers pass by, the speaker secures a trash bag from ticketing staff, enabling the mother to get through security, and another person later provides a replacement bag. The speaker reflects that the ability to help stemmed from having unhurried time, and argues that modern busyness erodes our capacity for kindness. The core message – the “moment of yes” – is to intentionally build pauses and extra time into our daily schedules so we can respond to others’ needs. The talk ends with well‑wishes for the anniversary and Alistair.
Chapters
Hey everyone, here is your moment of yes for Monday, October 5th, 2026. October 5th, 2026, 30 years ago, 1996, celebrating the 30th anniversary of Hollister myself. Happy anniversary, Hollister. Going to pick her up here in a few hours. Uh, yeah, how awesome is that? 30 years. I'm old. All right, your moment of yes for today is— remember in the Bible— how many moments of yeses have I started out like? Remember in the Bible the parable that Jesus tells about the Good Samaritan, right? And, uh, uh, the, the 2 gentlemen, the 2 other gentlemen, they— that, that represented the clergy, represented the church, they passed by the person on the side, the unhoused, the homeless who needed help. And but the Samaritan, the Samaritan who actually was probably, you know, would have been an immigrant in the country, who— he's the one who stopped and helped. So, um, all that to say is I was traveling a lot this past week, um, 3 different cities, 5 different flights, and I was in— where was I? New Jersey? Philadelphia. I was at the Philadelphia airport and I finished the talk and I'm there a couple of hours early, so I'm not in a rush. So as I come up the escalator to go through security, there's a young woman there. She's holding a newborn and she'd had like a paper grocery bag filled with like bottles and formula and diapers, and it had gotten wet and it broke open. So she's up there, she's standing, she can't put her child down because it's like the floor. And her stuff is just laying there, and people are just flying by. People are flying by, and one woman stops and is trying to help her. But we were looking for a bag, something we can help her put her other stuff in, and there's like literally there's nothing around. I go back down where I put my bag through. There's nothing down there. There's no shops. There's nothing, and the only shops are through security. So then I'm and I'm so the woman goes, "I'm sorry, I'm in a hurry. I gotta go." So it's me and the other woman. I say, "Hold on, I'll be right back." So I go back down again. I go to the ticketing booths. I say, "Hey, do you guys have a trash bag? Anything I can?" do just to get her stuff through security. They gave me a trash bag. Um, uh, we get her stuff in a clean, a clean trash bag so that she can then get through security, and then someone else gets her another bag to put her stuff in. All of that to say is the reason I helped and the reason I was able to help is because I had time. I wasn't in a hurry. Think about how often there's things that we would like to do, or man, if I had— like, why didn't I help that person? Or why didn't I do that? And I'm guilty of this all the time. It's because I don't have time. I've got to get to that meeting. I've got to get to that. I got to pick someone up. I got to get to the next thing. And so in our busyness, in our overscheduled or cutting things too close, we lose the, the ability to do what is always the most important thing, which is just help. Just stop, pause, and help. And if we, if we built more time into our day Where we weren't cutting everything to the last minute or trying to cram too much in. If we gave ourselves more time, more space, more pause, we would all be able to take care of each other more. And what's more important than that? So today, your moment of yes for today and this week: build in more time to pause, build in more time to not be in a hurry, so when you can see a need, you can help that person. That's your moment of yes for today. Have a great day. Happy anniversary, Alistair.
