What I'd like to see is "calendarlesskindness," a kindness not dictated by a "red number" on an Ace wall calendar
Contributed By:Dorothy Nevils
A Christmas extension
By now, you’ve celebrated or tolerated Christmas. Some folks have tossed the tree, while some wait for the new year to put it away. Still others keep it up until Epiphany, symbolizing the Wise Men’s trip to save the Baby from Herod’s order to kill baby boys, toddlers and younger. Some even leave the tree, and perhaps other Christmas symbols, for a special occurrence, for example, the return of a deployed spouse, child, or other loved one; or even for some, the tree remains as a symbol of awaiting justice.
The one thing we can agree on is that Christmas means different things to different people, and, for some, it’s just another day. Wherever the stance, we can agree that it’s “a big thing” for most people, whether known by “Christmas” or some other name.
Around here, people have bought and wrapped and stacked all kinds of things to bring a gleam to another’s eyes. Groups have pulled together to buy toys for kids suffering from serious illness, as well as those from low or no income families, or those with no family.
What I’d like to see is “calendarlesskindness,” a kindness not dictated by a “red number” on an Ace wall calendar, replete with coupons that let you “get ten hose washers for a dollar” when summer comes… but kindnessvalid all year long, never expiring, to be used as many times as you find the opportunity!
What I’d like to see is a UPS driver alight without having to scour the neighborhood for a bevy of buzzards waiting to swoop down on road kill, then take off with parcels with words they can’t read. If they could, they’d see their names were nowhere in the truck!
What I’d like to see are cameras of children playing in the daytime, and as late as they want; younger, stronger persons scooping snow from sidewalks and walking away before people three generations removed hear metal scraping concrete; and children holding their fathers’ hands and asking a dozen questions with eleven answered.
I guess what I’d like to see is a change of hearts, and that permanently. There’s a guy who frequents the neighborhood. He gets on my nerve ringing the doorbell when I’m in the middle of something. If it’s around nine – any season – I’ll stomp my foot like my mother when the phone rang, and open it to see him sitting on the ledge. “Want me to mow your lawn?”
I’ll draw out his name in exasperated fashion as I’ve done for years, and tell him for the “thirty-teenth” time, “I don’t let anyone mow my lawn!” Then he’ll ask for bus fare, or change for coffee… He voluntarily does yard work when people aren’t home; hence, “no dough.”
He showed up when temps were way down. Did I have a heater? I couldn’t give him the one I just bought last year… I gave him a blanket. He rode off.
A few minutes later, I considered my selfishness and, heater on the seat, drove around looking for him. I spent a night my hard heart deserved, but he delivered me the next day: I popped the car, he got the heater, and I slept soundly that night.
We all must have a moral plumb line, and failing to do what is just must cause discomfort, else we continue considering “us” alone. Compassion with + feeling – concern for others, real concern, “Golden Rule” kind of concern. Practice it, teach it… and we just might get there!
Story Posted:12/22/2016
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