Tag Archives: Kindness

People Floating Into My Life

Whatever joy there is in this world
All comes from desiring others to be happy
And whatever suffering there is in this world
All comes from wanting pleasure for myself

I was pretty worn out this morning, watching Jody decline, and sensing that I’m losing the love of my life, at least on this physical plane.  I needed to get her some meds, plus we were low on groceries, so I headed off to Costco.

First, though, was Shoppers Home Health Care.  I was looking for absorbent underwear that held liquid better than the generic brand we’d tried.  As I trundled in, a woman greeted me with an all encompassing smile.  “I can tell a happy person the moment they open the door,” she said.  “Well,” I replied, smiling, “Maybe I’d better come in again.”  So I walked out and I walked in, putting on the grumpiest face I could find.  “I want service!”  “Doesn’t work, guy.  Your eyes give you away.”

Thank you, my new friend.  I’m so sorry that I can’t remember your name. I’ll find out next time.

So on to Costco.  As I sat by the snack bar, eating my decadent turkey and provolone sandwich, a familiar face was pushing her cart past me.  She looked.  I looked.  She smiled.  I smiled.  It was Julia, our hairstylist.  There hasn’t been any haircutting in the Kerr family for the past ten months, and I was so glad to see Julia.  We gave each other a gentle hug.  “I miss Jody so much, and I love both of you,” the words having trouble making their way past the tears.

Thank you, my old friend.  Someday you’ll be cutting my hair again.

Watching this was Joanne, a woman who sits at a kiosk, trying to sell furnaces.  I walked over and she came towards me with a hug posted special delivery.  “I read all of your e-mails and I think of you and Jody a lot.”  And we talked about how my lovely wife is doing.

Thank you, o standing-on-your-feet-at-all-times saleswoman who cares so much about a woman she’s never met.

The e-mails that Joanne mentioned are weekly updates about Jody.  I’ve been writing them since November, 2013 and there are about 300 addresses who receive them.  I figure that over seven hundred human beings are praying for a miracle.  So lovely.

I was just about to get up post-sandwich when Pen, one of the Costco employees, walks by me, touches my shoulder, and says “Hi, you.”  And hi back to you, Pen.

So many people to love

Altruism

“An attitude or way of behaving marked by unselfish concern for the welfare of others”

T.S. was at a London Monarch baseball game in Ontario with his 8-year-old son.  A foul ball was hit into the crowd.  It bounced and landed right in T.S.’s hands.  His son was thrilled when T.S. handed him the ball, but they heard a little girl crying, and realized that the ball had bounced off her foot.  The son asked his father to give the ball to the girl.  “I gave him a hug and told him that was a really nice thing to do.”

And more:

1.  A man walks around downtown London with a bunch of quarters in his pocket.  He plugs parking meters that are about to expire.

2.  A young girl tells her parents that she dropped a ceramic mug on the floor, to protect the person really responsible – her little brother.

3.  A 9-year-old boy looking for help after his mother crashed their van in the southern Arizona desert was rescued by a man entering the U.S. illegally, who stayed with him until help arrived the next day.

4.  We learned that 38 men – blacksmiths, professors, construction workers, students – can co-exist day after day in a 3-metre-by-10-metre cell with grace and humour and kindness.

5.  A man had made an impulsive purchase of a home entertainment system. He soon realized that it was a bad decision and tried to sell it on the Internet. He got a few offers, but they were all really low.  The man was getting depressed.  A friend of his offered to give him $2500 to top up the latest offer.  The system was sold.

6.  On an outdoor education trip in the Rockies, one member of the group developed hypothermia.  Her three friends took turns crawling into a sleeping bag with her.  Her temperature rose.  She survived.

7.  A 14-year-old boy had horrible acne.  Most of his friends retreated.  One girl moved towards him, always looking him in the eye, and including him in activities.

8.  A personal support worker who serves a cancer patient, upon hearing that she has been taken to a hospital, immediately phones the woman’s husband, wanting to visit.

9.  At parties, a woman always looks for anyone who seems left out, and goes over to spend time with them, in an expression of relationship, not pity.

10.  Despite the suffering and atrocities that his people have been and are subjected to, the Dalai Lama holds no anger toward the Chinese, believing they are “misguided people”.  Ingram describes the Dalai Lama’s attitude as “one of incredible kindness, even toward the Chinese Government, who would like him dead”.  He describes the Chinese as “my friends, the enemy”.