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| Some of the Yoga Girls at Starbucks. |
I came across a beautiful passage the other day -- "Small Kindnesses" by Danusha Lameris. I love it so much that I'm sharing it for today's post. It really touches me and puts so eloquently into words how I feel. It's why I choose to chat with the grocery store cashier rather than using the faster self-checkout, why I crave human contact over a machine, why I make eye contact and seek out a stranger's smile when I'm in a new city.
"Small Kindnesses"
By Danusha Lameris
I've been thinking about the way, when you walk down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs to let you by. Or how strangers still say "bless you" when someone sneezes, a leftover from the Bubonic plague. "Don't die," we are saying.
And sometimes, when you spill lemons from your grocery bag, someone else will help you pick them up.
Mostly, we don't want to harm each other. We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot, and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder, and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.
We have so little of each other, now. So far from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.
What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these fleeting temples we make together when we say, "Here, have my seat," "Go ahead -- you first," "I like your hat."
Have a colorful day
4 comments:
Beautiful! You have captured the love for each other (human or fur baby) that makes life worth living!
I love your posts for their color in both photos and language. You speak to the heart of what is really important. Thank you for your posts. They often get opened first as I love to see what you are posting!
Thank you!
Sherrie, That's wonderful! This past week at Starbucks, I sat down with my coffee but decided I needed to say something to the employee who made it. I asked this young woman who made my coffee. She looked at me like I had asked her a difficult question with anxiety in her eyes. She looked around and said, "It was me." I told her it was the prettiest cup of coffee I've seen in a long time." She was shocked. She even said, "I thought you were going to complain." We really need to compliment more.
Thanks for this post.
What a wonderful post!!!! Thanks so much for sharing. I too try to talk to everyone/anyone (my kids used to roll their eyes when I would chat at the grocery store! ha)...but I still take the time to chat and especially when I find a cashier that seems a little put off...you can kill them with kindness and change their crabby day into one with a little smile. Bless you!
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