Life and Death

I just stopped at the Red Box at Walgreens. I like that one because I don't have to get everyone out of the car to get a movie. A man was pushing his truck into the parking lot, he'd run out of gas. I could feel him looking my direction, I wasn't sure how I might help him. Me, in my flip flops, with my 3 kids in the car. As I waited for the movie to come out of the box, I looked up and 2 men were helping him push the truck into a parking spot. They asked him if he needed a ride somewhere. He said he just needed gas. They offered to take him to a nearby gas station, he hopped in with them. I smiled inside.
I am always amazed by people's generosity, goodness. I think we live in a society where we are inundated with messages about the dark side of humanity. We see it in the newspapers we read, lots of movies, all those crime shows, the interactions we witness when we are out in the world. It would be easy to get bogged down by all that, become pessimistic about where we are headed as a society. I don't like to admit that sometimes I am truly surprised when I witness something ordinarily kind, at times it even moves me to tears. It can be something as simple as someone being a considerate driver, allowing someone to pull out in front of them in traffic, or just the other day I saw a man help an elderly woman with a cane up on to the sidewalk after she got out of her car. It moves me.
I remember once in college I was riding the bus to campus, to a counseling appointment actually. There was a blind woman waiting for the bus at one of the stops along the route. A young man waiting at the stop, who obviously was not with the blind woman, helped her on the bus when she got out her walking stick and started feeling her way up the stairs. He asked first if he could help her, she nodded, and he held her arm and walked her up on to the bus and sat her down. As he made his way to the back of the bus, tears began to run down my cheeks. A few minutes later when I got off at my stop and proceeded to the waiting room for my appointment, I couldn't pull myself together. I shared the story with the counselor, he asked me why I thought it moved me so, I wasn't sure. He asked me if it was because I wish someone would help me when I feel alone and can't see the way. He hit the nail on the head (hence the need for the counseling...I did feel lost and alone). I think I cried for about a half hour. We all need our hand to be held every now and then, to be shown the path when it isn't clear in front of us, or when we are forging into unknown territory.
When I got home from Walgreen's and checked my email, there was a series of messages regarding dinner deliveries for my daughter's preschool teacher, Mary. Her husband is dying. He is at home in a hospital bed, being cared for by hospice, surrounded by family. Mary's husband has been sick for some time and many parents had offered to help. Mary is a kind, humble, gracious woman. As help was offered, she wanted to wait until they really needed it. It came time and she asked for the help. In the matter of 30 minutesof the call for being help sent out, the email, 4 or 5 women had already offered to deliver meals this week and as I read the emails I started to cry. These are all people with busy lives, families, and they don't hesitate to add a little something extra to their plate. They lighten someone else's load and give a grieving family a little comfort, a little soul food to sustain them as they witness the end of a precious life. People are good, they are generous, they are thoughtful. Sometimes we just have to look around us and notice.