Today is the third, and final day of the first Trinity of Holly Days: Community.
Kindness just feels so correct as the optimal interaction between all living things, but I suspect it is much deeper. You may have seen this sweet video:
My experience has been that this sort of paying forward is nearly universal. Maybe even a little spooky.
I had a funny experience during my move. I pulled into a fast food place, and seeing a homeless lady spread out on the curb, felt a twinge of concern about all my stuff overflowing from my car.
When I came out, my bag of fried zucchini and change in hand, the lady called out to me, and I was like, “here it comes…” but she just said, “Nice packing job!”
Moved by the compliment and a little ashamed of my prejudice, I walked over, thanked her, and pressed the $10 bill from my change into her hand, set down the fried zucchini, and drove away, feeling maybe a little too generous.
I have a caffeine-free diet soda fetish, which this place didn’t have so I pulled into another fast food place in the same turnoff and went in and ordered a soda from their fancy 100’s-of-flavors soda machine along with an order of fries to replace my fried zucchini. I was my usual slovenly self, bare footed and messy, and when I took out my wallet to pay, the counter person said, “It’s okay, they got it.” pointing to the couple who had just finished placing their order before me. I thanked them and they sheepishly accepted.
I’ve never given a homeless person $10 and a bag of fried zucchini before, and I’ve never had anyone pick up my tab at a fast food place before. It was a beautiful coincidence that filled me with love and renewed my deep belief in its power and the power of its kissing cousin, Kindness.
Happy Holly Days!!!
HOLLY DAYS 