by Ginger Philbrick
Dear Reader, I hope you will enjoy this week’s column consisting of three stories that tell of very different acts of kindness.
Although our hearts were heavy, we knew it was time to downsize after 32 years of loving our home, and so we put it on the market. The photographer for our real estate company first came and took magnificent photos of the outside of our home. And, to our great surprise and gratitude, when he returned to photograph the inside, he gave us a large, panoramic print of the home that meant so much to us. It is now hanging in a prominent place in our new dwelling, affording comfortable memories.
ENC, Deltaville
Here is an account of one act of incredible heartlessness, followed by one of selfless kindness.
My sister was walking on her usual route and tripped and fell on the sidewalk. She lay there for a few minutes trying to regain not only her composure but making sure she was okay. Suddenly a female jogger literally jumped over her…and kept going. Stunned, my sister kept lying on the sidewalk trying to make sense of what had just happened. Fortunately, a young mother driving by had observed all of this and stopped to check on my sister. She helped her up and insisted on taking her home. Later, after my sister had regained her composure, she made an arrangement of flowers from her garden and took them to the kind lady.
BHS, White Stone
Being kind, even though we earnestly want to be, may not be easy at times. I leave you this week with a story from a friend of mine. Her Bible study group was learning about meeting challenges head on and thereby making a difference. Each week the group took on a new challenge and this particular week my friend looked forward to the challenge of doing something kind for a stranger.
As an extrovert, she saw this as an easy assignment. A last-minute trip to the grocery store provided a perfect opportunity; she decided to let the gentleman in line behind her go before her. To her disappointment, her gracious attempt at kindness was met with refusal!
A dialogue of “please” and “no thank you” ensued, until the man finally agreed to go first after she explained that she was on her way to Bible study and needed to be able to share one kind thing done for a stranger. In my friend’s words, “Whether he was touched or just wanted to get away remains a question!”
Ginger Philbrick is the owner of Because You Are Polite LLC. You are invited to email your manners questions to her and she will respond as time and space allow. You may contact her at youarepolite1@gmail.com.
