Random Acts of Kindness
I originally posted this as a Facebook note Saturday, when it happened. After posting here yesterday, I realized I'd not posted anything since April last year, just before I headed off on the big move. Because I don't want my only statement in 8 months to be a complaint, I thought I should share this here, too, since not all of my friends here are on Facebook as well. So, my little story of a Random Act of Kindness...
I made a big decision last year to uproot my life and take a chance on a dream. I left all my friends and family behind and my son and I made a 3,000 mile drive for a new life and a new job. After driving all that way, the job fell through and I found us jobless and homeless wasting away my savings on hotels. Via a Craigslist ad, I found a room to rent temporarily and that led to a temp job working in a local retail store that was going through a remodel. All of this was supposed to be temporary.
Since that time, I've been unable to find full time work and have become a hostage and a pawn to both the woman who rents this room to me (that I share with my son) and her mother who is my boss. I get just enough hours to pay the rent, not enough to live off of and the living situation is a nightmare that has inspired lots of short stories that will hopefully become a good book or sitcom someday. Things have been so tough, feeling unsafe and henpecked day and night for the past 6 months, that I would have turned tail and run back home had I not made a wonderful friend here.
He and I try to get together whenever we can. We see movies, drink coffee, take walks downtown or along the bike trails and parks at the rivers or bay. He's been a constant encouragement to me and is really the main reason I've been able to tough it out here and keep holding on to my dream of starting a new life here. Today was even more uplifting than I could have dreamed.
We had a free ticket to a movie so we saw True Grit together. He's not a big western fan but he trusts my taste in films and we were both crying at the end of the movie. We walked to Starbucks afterwards and enjoyed some Zen tea and talked for a couple of hours. We talked about the film, what we liked about it, what made it so great; We talked about other films that we thought each other might like because of the impact they make (we both believe a film, book or tv show should leave us changed somehow because it's our modern-day folk lore). We 'debriefed' on the madness that is my home and work life and that led to a discussion of doing good things for people, not because we want to better ourselves but because sometimes we are the only positive influence in someones life.
We've both gone through some pretty crappy stuff (hasn't everyone?) but instead of becoming bitter and mean, abusive and manipulative like so many people do, we chose to try to do good things. You know, the whole, "Be the change you want to see in the world" and "Everything you do in your life will be insignificant but it's important that you do it because no one else will." Part of the reason we've become such good friends is because we are both used to being invisible, used, abused, taken advantage of or being taken for granted, but we SEE each other and recognize kindred spirits in each other.
The time was getting on and we had other things to do so we got up to leave. As we were reaching for the door, the woman who was sitting at the table next to us stopped us. She handed him a green envelope and said, "Here, this is for you. I don't want you to open it until you leave." We smiled and did the shocked, "Awwww... Thank you!" response, it was just a few seconds and she said, "God bless you" as we walked out the door.
I didn't even have my coat on all the way yet as we were walking away. After I had it zipped he handed me the envelope. "I want you to open it. I think it was meant for you." It was a card with a teddy bear on the front, holding flowers that look a lot like Pansies (my favorite, even the right color). I opened it and my jaw dropped. Inside was a large denomination bill with a hand-written note:
"I'm sorry I was listening - you both sound like GOOD, kind people. We need more people like you. God bless you. Have dinner out or something. :)"
The money was a surprise but the note is what made me cry, made us both cry, as we stood hugging on the sidewalk. It's exactly what we were talking about, doing good, making an impact on people, not for what you get out of it but because people need hope and encouragement, especially with the way the world is today. We both were speechless. There were a lot Wows uttered on the ride home. It was like affirmation that we are doing something right, that we aren't the only people in the world that try to be good people, even though it sometimes seems like we are. I'm still trying to find words, wrestling with them, because these words meant so much to me.
We need more people like her, random strangers doing good things for other random people with no expectation of anything in return, just the knowledge that they made a difference in someone's day. We all need to remember to be kind, to be patient, to be understanding, to be encouraging, to be PRESENT and not just talk but listen to people around us. Sometimes we are the only light that shines, even for a moment, into someone else's darkness....
I made a big decision last year to uproot my life and take a chance on a dream. I left all my friends and family behind and my son and I made a 3,000 mile drive for a new life and a new job. After driving all that way, the job fell through and I found us jobless and homeless wasting away my savings on hotels. Via a Craigslist ad, I found a room to rent temporarily and that led to a temp job working in a local retail store that was going through a remodel. All of this was supposed to be temporary.
Since that time, I've been unable to find full time work and have become a hostage and a pawn to both the woman who rents this room to me (that I share with my son) and her mother who is my boss. I get just enough hours to pay the rent, not enough to live off of and the living situation is a nightmare that has inspired lots of short stories that will hopefully become a good book or sitcom someday. Things have been so tough, feeling unsafe and henpecked day and night for the past 6 months, that I would have turned tail and run back home had I not made a wonderful friend here.
He and I try to get together whenever we can. We see movies, drink coffee, take walks downtown or along the bike trails and parks at the rivers or bay. He's been a constant encouragement to me and is really the main reason I've been able to tough it out here and keep holding on to my dream of starting a new life here. Today was even more uplifting than I could have dreamed.
We had a free ticket to a movie so we saw True Grit together. He's not a big western fan but he trusts my taste in films and we were both crying at the end of the movie. We walked to Starbucks afterwards and enjoyed some Zen tea and talked for a couple of hours. We talked about the film, what we liked about it, what made it so great; We talked about other films that we thought each other might like because of the impact they make (we both believe a film, book or tv show should leave us changed somehow because it's our modern-day folk lore). We 'debriefed' on the madness that is my home and work life and that led to a discussion of doing good things for people, not because we want to better ourselves but because sometimes we are the only positive influence in someones life.
We've both gone through some pretty crappy stuff (hasn't everyone?) but instead of becoming bitter and mean, abusive and manipulative like so many people do, we chose to try to do good things. You know, the whole, "Be the change you want to see in the world" and "Everything you do in your life will be insignificant but it's important that you do it because no one else will." Part of the reason we've become such good friends is because we are both used to being invisible, used, abused, taken advantage of or being taken for granted, but we SEE each other and recognize kindred spirits in each other.
The time was getting on and we had other things to do so we got up to leave. As we were reaching for the door, the woman who was sitting at the table next to us stopped us. She handed him a green envelope and said, "Here, this is for you. I don't want you to open it until you leave." We smiled and did the shocked, "Awwww... Thank you!" response, it was just a few seconds and she said, "God bless you" as we walked out the door.
I didn't even have my coat on all the way yet as we were walking away. After I had it zipped he handed me the envelope. "I want you to open it. I think it was meant for you." It was a card with a teddy bear on the front, holding flowers that look a lot like Pansies (my favorite, even the right color). I opened it and my jaw dropped. Inside was a large denomination bill with a hand-written note:
"I'm sorry I was listening - you both sound like GOOD, kind people. We need more people like you. God bless you. Have dinner out or something. :)"
The money was a surprise but the note is what made me cry, made us both cry, as we stood hugging on the sidewalk. It's exactly what we were talking about, doing good, making an impact on people, not for what you get out of it but because people need hope and encouragement, especially with the way the world is today. We both were speechless. There were a lot Wows uttered on the ride home. It was like affirmation that we are doing something right, that we aren't the only people in the world that try to be good people, even though it sometimes seems like we are. I'm still trying to find words, wrestling with them, because these words meant so much to me.
We need more people like her, random strangers doing good things for other random people with no expectation of anything in return, just the knowledge that they made a difference in someone's day. We all need to remember to be kind, to be patient, to be understanding, to be encouraging, to be PRESENT and not just talk but listen to people around us. Sometimes we are the only light that shines, even for a moment, into someone else's darkness....