Category: Kindness Counts

I was walking my dog the other day, and saw in big bold letters on this dudes sweatshirt “SPEAK NO EVIL.” I complimented him on it, and told him I wish more people fully understood and practiced that concept. He and the lady he was with smiled, nodded and agreed and we all went on with our day after chatting for a bit.

Ever since that encounter, I have been meditating on that idea. The words that we speak have such power in them. We can use them to build someone up or tear them down.

For most of my childhood I was relentlessly picked on because the size of my head. Of course I didn’t choose to be born with a weird brain condition. I remember being hesitant to wear my hair up, even though it came back thicker and thicker when my head was shaved after each of the 4 brain surgeries I had as a baby, and the weather was so hot sometimes where I grew up. But I knew my head size was more noticeable with it up, so I sweated accordingly. Kids can be mean if you are different, but it taught me a lesson I carried into adulthood. To be ridiculously nice to others, and to be a barracuda to those that were not kind to me and to protect my person always.

Implementation of that practice has made me realize as an adult that it takes way more effort to be kind to someone than to be nasty to them. For that I am thankful to all those kids who picked on the weird girl with the big head. I wear my hair up every single day now and don’t give a hoot.

I’m hopeful that those who read my post will pay a compliment to a complete stranger you encounter, and remember that they’re just like you-the child of a Father in Heaven who loves us all the best, and may need to be lifted up today in some small way. 🙂

I’ve opened up my iPad, and touched the WordPress app to compose a blogpost more times that I can count since I last composed one. Unfortunately, the words haven’t come, so I have closed it again after staring at a blank template. Again, more times than I can count.

This evening I have a post coming out of my fingertips because of a ride-share driver. A man whose name I can’t recall now. Only that it was at least 12 letters long, and began with an A. This perfect stranger was also a Catholic, as he had a Rosary dangling from his rear view mirror, and may have been Lebanese since he spoke Arabic. There is also a chance he had polio as a child because after we had one of the most beautifully touching encounters I’ve ever had with another human, he gestured to the floorboard on the passenger side beside him where his walking devices were to make sure I didn’t forget mine, and to acknowledge that he saw me just as much as I saw him.

It is important to really see other humans by acknowledging them, and the gifts they bring to the world simply by being in it. Mostly, in the world we live in today, it is of the utmost important to be kind to each other. We go about our daily lives we so much hustle and disregard for others at times. Of course COVID has changed that some, but we can be a self absorbed lot. We don’t acknowledge the struggles of others as much as we should whether that be physically, mentally, spiritually, or in this case linguistically. What a shame.

My hope for the readers of this post will be that they take the easier, softer, and more God filled way in their interactions with others. Let my driver today be your reminder.

A few months ago, I relocated to a different part of the city I now live in. It is a different type of community from which I came, but a community nonetheless. The folks around here have gotten used to my dog and I on our walks. I know who belongs to what house, they speak, I speak, and it’s so quiet around here the majority of the time it’s almost eerie. There’s a real “suburban/urban” vibe as this real estate agent called it that I was chatting with the other day, who evidently also lives around here.

One of very favorite things to do when I walk my dog is go to the park that is super near here. Walking has always been my preferred form of exercise, and although it’s not that enjoyable anymore, what is enjoyable is looking at all the beautiful houses and interesting things that go on around here. As my dog and I were walking the other day, I saw something unexpected. These folks eyeballed me and gave me a warning look as they saw me hobbling along because there was a shirtless man walking towards me and my dog that was using a mattress cover as a coat. I did what I do in this neighborhood with someone that is not from the area (people around here mask and social distance like it’s their job), and stepped WAY off the side walk and put a mask on. As he walked by me, I did something I felt led to do, and when he looked up at me in a haze i looked him dead in the eye, smiled at him, and nodded and then put my mask back on. As my dog and I walked away he stopped under an awning of a building and watched us walk away. I truly believe that he was fascinated, even in whatever state he was in, that a human being had acknowledged his existence. I hope he never forgets it. ❤️