I was posting this on Facebook, but it's just too great not to put on our blog. I want to remember the goodness of people. I want my children who will have these books to remember the goodness of people. We print these yearly for our family history, but aside from all the dates and births and deaths in a family, it's important to know what the members thought--what touched us, what hurt us, what is important to us. This is one of those posts, I guess. This is important to me.
I live in a great community. I belong to a barter and swap group on Facebook that serves as a Craigslist for this community. Not a week goes by that I don't see something encouraging and uplifting on there--A BARTERING SITE, PEOPLE! And now that the cold has come, it's really on the climb.
In October, a woman on the site asked for help fixing her roof so she and her grandchildren wouldn't get evicted this winter. No money, so she was just hoping someone could show her how to do it. Instead, local contractors donated supplies and many men went out on a cold, crappy Saturday morning to fix the roof.
Last year, during the Christmas season, a woman sought to do random acts of kindness for people. One of the things she did was drive around the island and drop off wreaths to people who didn't have any on their house. One house she knocked at was answered by a man who fell to weeping when she gave him the wreath. He wanted one to put on the grave of his son (I think?) but had none that year to do it. This year she posted on the site looking for wreaths to give to the man.
Last week another woman mentioned on the site that she was chatting with a young saleswoman one day when she was shopping. The younger said she had returned to her car, then ran back in to use the restroom, and found that in the meantime her wallet had been stolen out of her car, along with a bible she had inherited from her grandfather. The wallet wasn't mentioned after that--the woman was concerned about helping to locate the heirloom scriptures.
Today I saw a post asking for an old-fashioned baby blanket--one where the material pills when washed and with a rough taffeta binding. The woman's granddaughter is going in for a marrow transplant, and because she must be kept in a sterile environment, she isn't allowed to use the old one she already has. Someone responded with a picture of a never-opened baby blanket from the 1970s. I found the same one, out of the box, on Ebay for $41. The woman asking for it offered to buy it from the one who responded, but the latter insisted on giving it to her.
These are only the few that are standing out in my head--there are countless more. Sure, there are also just regular old buy-and-sell exchanges too, but it really is so uplifting to see the genuine goodness of people. People with nothing to gain but the feeling of doing something that made someone else feel supported, cared for, and loved. People who are complete strangers. We all have the Light of Christ in us, and these people show it every day in the care they show for others.
I am thankful for these examples. I'm thankful for the kind things people do. I'm thankful for the people who allow kind things to come their way. The more I ponder kindness, the more I realize it is the best path to perfect charity--the love of Christ. I'm thankful for that realization, so I can even hope to attempt to gain that most desired attribute.
I live in a great community. I belong to a barter and swap group on Facebook that serves as a Craigslist for this community. Not a week goes by that I don't see something encouraging and uplifting on there--A BARTERING SITE, PEOPLE! And now that the cold has come, it's really on the climb.
In October, a woman on the site asked for help fixing her roof so she and her grandchildren wouldn't get evicted this winter. No money, so she was just hoping someone could show her how to do it. Instead, local contractors donated supplies and many men went out on a cold, crappy Saturday morning to fix the roof.
Last year, during the Christmas season, a woman sought to do random acts of kindness for people. One of the things she did was drive around the island and drop off wreaths to people who didn't have any on their house. One house she knocked at was answered by a man who fell to weeping when she gave him the wreath. He wanted one to put on the grave of his son (I think?) but had none that year to do it. This year she posted on the site looking for wreaths to give to the man.
Last week another woman mentioned on the site that she was chatting with a young saleswoman one day when she was shopping. The younger said she had returned to her car, then ran back in to use the restroom, and found that in the meantime her wallet had been stolen out of her car, along with a bible she had inherited from her grandfather. The wallet wasn't mentioned after that--the woman was concerned about helping to locate the heirloom scriptures.
Today I saw a post asking for an old-fashioned baby blanket--one where the material pills when washed and with a rough taffeta binding. The woman's granddaughter is going in for a marrow transplant, and because she must be kept in a sterile environment, she isn't allowed to use the old one she already has. Someone responded with a picture of a never-opened baby blanket from the 1970s. I found the same one, out of the box, on Ebay for $41. The woman asking for it offered to buy it from the one who responded, but the latter insisted on giving it to her.
These are only the few that are standing out in my head--there are countless more. Sure, there are also just regular old buy-and-sell exchanges too, but it really is so uplifting to see the genuine goodness of people. People with nothing to gain but the feeling of doing something that made someone else feel supported, cared for, and loved. People who are complete strangers. We all have the Light of Christ in us, and these people show it every day in the care they show for others.
I am thankful for these examples. I'm thankful for the kind things people do. I'm thankful for the people who allow kind things to come their way. The more I ponder kindness, the more I realize it is the best path to perfect charity--the love of Christ. I'm thankful for that realization, so I can even hope to attempt to gain that most desired attribute.
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