People have been overwhelmingly kind to me while I have been house-bound after foot surgery. They have picked up groceries, taken me to appointments, brought me lunch (and left a dinner at the same time), called to check in, stoked the woodbin with firewood, brought me books, and emptied my garbage.
It warms my heart to know that kindness among friends remains high, especially when kindness among strangers seems to be diminishing. Not only do we have fewer interactions with strangers— grocery-store clerks, bank tellers, librarians—now that we can self-help ourselves with those tasks, but anger and greed from the general public seem to be squeezing dry our opportunities to do a kindness to a stranger. For instance:
When I noticed the low-air icon lit up on my dashboard a few months ago, I stopped at the gas station in Jacksonville to have them put air in it, as I have an unreasonable fear that the tire will blow up in my face if I do it.
The gas station attendant said no, he wouldn't do that for me.
"It's a new policy," he said, "We can't put oil in the car or air in the tires. We can't do anything except put gas in the gas tank."
The reason, he said, was that the company has been sued by people who claim things like their car blew up because of the oil the attendant put in it.
Too many suits, too many angry people looking to cast blame.
The man stammered a bit more and then said, "Oh, I'll do it. I'm the manager. There's no one here to tell me I can't."
That was kind.
But it's heck of a world, isn't it? if a person isn't allowed to do a kindness to a stranger. Thank goodness we still do kindnesses to our friends and that a sense of doing a kindness to a stranger can override unnecessary rules.
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