It's Nothing

A friend of mine who lives close by has been having a very tough time for quite a while. Also, because of various health problems it can be hard for her to get around. Like me, she has no family here in the Boston area, but unlike, me, both of her parents passed away. As of late, she hasn't been feeling well, so I make it a point to check in on her to see how she's doing.

Yesterday was a pretty bad day for her, so I offered to pick up something for her to eat after I was done with work. Initially, she said yes, but then she started to feel worse, and said that I could come by another time. I knew that she needed to eat, so I told her I'd be in the neighborhood, so I could just stop by and drop off the food. She agreed, and so that's what I did.

I planned to just hand off the stuff and leave, but she said she was feeling a bit better and invited me in. While we were chatting I assured her that it wasn't a big deal for me to stop by. I only live a subway stop away. She said she doesn't know enough people with that attitude, but to me, that's just common courtesy. Like I told her, I grew up in the country, where I had to drive to see my friends. Taking the subway one stop is nothing. Also, even if I had to drive to see her, if she needed me, I'd go.

It's pretty sad that a simple act of kindness has become such a rarity in today's society. To me it makes perfect sense to visit a friend who's unwell, and to bring them whatever they might need. I know that in many regards I'm an anomaly, but this is ridiculous!

The Kindness of Strangers

Hello there, readers. It's been quite a while since you've heard from me, but only because I haven't been truly inspired to share any of my life experiences. Well, today something happened that I thought would be nice to share. We hear or read all the time about people doing bad things to other people, but it's a rarity to find a story where someone does something nice for a fellow human being. I'm not saying that nice things don't happen; I'm just saying that those nice things are rarely highlighted.

This morning I was walking to the bus stop, talking to my mom on my cell phone about a problem I was having. Only steps from the end of my street, I saw the bus drive by. My instinct of course was to run to try to catch the bus, but I had to wait until a couple of cars went by before I could run across the street. By the time that I ran across the street, the bus was already headed for the next stop. If I were wearing sneakers I would've kicked it into high gear to catch the bus, but I was wearing sandals with a bit of a heel.

Just as I turned around, I noticed a car stopped in the street. As I walked past, the lady inside got my attention and said that she saw me running for the bus and offered me a ride. She lives up the street and said that she drives by the subway station on the way to work. That was such a neighborly thing for her to do. There was a time in American history when this type of thing would've been commonplace, but we've become a nation ruled by fear. As she was offering me the ride, the woman (Barbara) even told me that she wasn't some crazy person because that's the assumption that we naturally make nowadays. As she drove me to the station we made small-talk and I thought "Wow, what a nice lady." Barbara was a godsend on a hot summer morning when my day wasn't looking very bright. A dear friend of mine said that this must've been good karma coming back to me for giving my seat to a pregnant lady on the subway last week. You know what, maybe she's right :-).