Winter finally hit the Palouse, and last week it bitch slapped up pretty hard. Snow, wind, ice, all the fun weather that I wish we could experience year-round but that eventually gives way to sun, summer, and non-studded tires (please tell me the sarcasm was evident there?)
When the snow first hit my immediate thought was, "Damn! Should have let Dean buy that snow blower." But once I got over that I grabbed a shovel and headed outside to chuck the snow out of our slightly steep driveway. For anyone who has never shoveled snow I can sum it up in precisely two words. It. Sucks. I told myself that on the bright side I was getting double the exercise and keeping my arm muscles in prime condition, but even that wasn't enough to keep my spirits up.
Fast forward to Saturday. Dean and I are outside shoveling for the ump-teenth time trying to clear away all the snow piled up from the snow plow so I can get my car out of the driveway, when we are approached by one of our neighbors across the street who is offering to help us with the shoveling. At first Dean tried to play the hero and said we could handle it, but the young man insisted and so the three of us began to shovel away. And you know what I thought?
"What a nice guy."
I also felt a tiny pang of guilt, because I had definitely seen this particular guy out shoveling his own driveway on several occasions, and my thought hadn't been to go over and help him out but instead to go back in the house because it was freaking freezing outside. Ouch. I fail in the category of being a good neighbor.
Unsolicited kindness always seems like such a surprise, probably because most of us go about our days and don't expect it. In a lot of ways we have become a self-serve society, and we try not to depend on other people for too much if we can absolutely help it. This also creates a counter effect in that we also don't expect much from the people around us. Inevitably, our expectations of strangers and even people we know are slightly lowered.
I have always wanted to be the type of person who radiates kindness, who is always there to pick someone up and to lend a helping hand. I've gotten better over the years but I'm afraid I still have a long way to go. Most of the time with me it's not a lack of caring but a lack of effort, and I'm trying very hard to get over the idea that it's too exhausting to make these kind gestures, especially when they are least expected.
I was and am quite thankful for the young man with the snow shovel who came to our aid this past weekend. He inspired me to exhibit the same kindness toward someone I may or may not know, simply on the basis of being a nice person. A random act of kindness should never go unreturned. It's time to start paying it forward.
I also felt a tiny pang of guilt, because I had definitely seen this particular guy out shoveling his own driveway on several occasions, and my thought hadn't been to go over and help him out but instead to go back in the house because it was freaking freezing outside. Ouch. I fail in the category of being a good neighbor.
Unsolicited kindness always seems like such a surprise, probably because most of us go about our days and don't expect it. In a lot of ways we have become a self-serve society, and we try not to depend on other people for too much if we can absolutely help it. This also creates a counter effect in that we also don't expect much from the people around us. Inevitably, our expectations of strangers and even people we know are slightly lowered.
I have always wanted to be the type of person who radiates kindness, who is always there to pick someone up and to lend a helping hand. I've gotten better over the years but I'm afraid I still have a long way to go. Most of the time with me it's not a lack of caring but a lack of effort, and I'm trying very hard to get over the idea that it's too exhausting to make these kind gestures, especially when they are least expected.
I was and am quite thankful for the young man with the snow shovel who came to our aid this past weekend. He inspired me to exhibit the same kindness toward someone I may or may not know, simply on the basis of being a nice person. A random act of kindness should never go unreturned. It's time to start paying it forward.
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