Columns

WE ARE ONE

LASHA MORNINGSTAR

Kindness is a word that evokes one of two emotions. Warmth and feeling society is on the right path. Or a sneer that being kind means you are weak and a pushover.

I recently misplaced my car and house keys. Tore the house apart. No keys. But it was time to go. I could not call anyone because my phone – of course – was locked in the car.

So my dog and I walked down to the corner gas station to call for a cab. We stood outside and waited. And waited. No cab would take my dog. I could feel tears and called out and asked if anyone eating breakfast in the gas station's restaurant was going near where my dog's daycare was.

Everyone, through mouthfuls of eggs and coffee, shouted out "No."

As I stood outside with my cold dog, trying not to cry, I heard the voice of a woman who had finished her breakfast say, "I'll take you."

"But it's all the way to Fort Road," I said.

"That fine," she said and opened the back door of her car for my dog. I tore off by my coat and threw it over her back seat. My 80-pound dog leapt in.

"I'll pay you," I assured her as we started down the main road.

"No you won't," she said. So we chatted. I told her what I did and asked her if she worked. She does. She cleans house. Twenty six clients. Here she was taking time and no money to drive a person she does not know and a big thumper of a rescue dog in her back seat all the way across town.

A lovely soul, she confided one of her clients was 100, and she thought she only had her in to clean to keep her company. I said many thank yous as she delivered two cold strangers to their destinations.

That was kind.

So was the man who was opening the door of his office building and noticed a homeless man shivering nearby.

"Can I do anything for you?" he asked the man.

He told the businessman his feet were cold. He had no socks.

The businessman bent down, took off his shoes, rolled off his socks and gave them to the cold stranger. That was kind.

BITING THE TONGUE

St. Vincent de Paul advised "Make it a practice to judge persons and things in the most favourable light at all times and under all circumstances."

Now that takes courage and maybe a biting of the tongue. Also there must be dialogue, a discussion that avoids hot button words, a time when listening puts the situation back on an even keel.

As the person speaks, you reply "What I heard you say was . . .". If they agree that was what they meant, you go on. But if you misheard what they were saying or misinterpreted the intent of their words, that is the prime time to clear the air.

Kindness evaporates though unless you are first kind to yourself.

PUT YOURSELF FIRST

A work-worn emergency doctor told me, "Ya gotta put yourself first. Get your sleep. Eat good food. Find out what makes you happy."

All that sage wisdom after finding my haemoglobin was dipping way past danger zone and I needed blood transfusions. The words were brutal truth. But they were kind because if I did what he was advising me to do, my health would recover.

Author Dr. Wayne Dyer who is coming to town says "research shows that kindness improves the functioning of the immune system and stimulates the production of serotonin in both the giver and recipient."

STAND UP

Try it. Try being kind, especially to those you automatically bark at, pick on. And stand up for those being abused. You'll be doing God's work.

(Lasha Morningstar lasha@wcr.ab.ca)