Yesterday I had three people in a row let me into a long traffic lane. Since retiring, I avoid heavy traffic unless I have an appointment, and I silently gave thanks to those kind people who decided a minute or two more added to their drive wasn’t worth another person’s anxiety.
I try to remember to give thanks. Thank you to the man who pulled out a shopping cart for me when I couldn’t. Thank you to the woman in the parking lot who saw I was struggling to take a very large picture into the framing store and helped me carry the painting there. Thank you to the courtly Hispanic gentleman who on an incredibly hot day at an antiques market, gestured for me to stand in the shade of his drinks stand.
Life has small, important moments when another’s recognition of a struggle or a frustration can be eased with a gesture of kindness. If it’s been a tiresome day filled with non-stop traffic, someone stopping to let you into a lane can alleviate your frustration enough to get you safely home.
On my one and only 26-mile hike, a fellow hiker gave me one peanut at a time to get me off the mountain. I once took a glucose tolerance test and afterwards a nun stopped me and instructed a Candy Striper to take me to the hospital’s cafeteria. Kindnesses.
There are times when I recognize and give thanks posthumously. Thank you, parents, for the lessons you taught; thank you kind nurses and doctors for your gentleness, your explanations; thank you teachers for not giving up when I failed to understand a concept or when I was too immature to grasp the importance of the lessons you tried to teach; thank you, friend, when you endlessly listened to my woes.
Do kindnesses come back to you as the Hindus and Buddhists say, in the form of Karma? Perhaps? I do know that humanity recognizes the struggles of other humans and often pitches in with wonderful regularity. I know these small or large kindnesses put dents in frustrations, fear and depression, and I know that kindness begets kindness, making the recipient and the giver both better.
“In all things give thanks” 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Cindy Arp, teacher/librarian, retired from Knox County Schools. She and husband Dan live in Heiskell.
