Our world is beautiful, but there are a lot of ugly things in it. I think that we should all take time to do random acts of kindness daily, not only around the holidays. From little things like returning a lost wallet to bigger things like standing up for those who can not stand up/speak up for themselves. We all go through challenges in our lives, the more I suffered, the more I wanted to help others, I don't want anyone to feel sadness or pain, and if I can make their day better in any way I always try to. I also believe in karma, and my acts of human compassion have been returned to me ten fold, when I honestly never expected anything back. Hubby and I give all we can to animals and people in need, be it immigrant women who need food, clothes, diapers, etc. or the neighborhood kids who need toys and clothes for Christmas because their parents can not afford them, or the shelters that need everything from detergent to dog food, or getting a winter coat, sandwich and coffee for the sweet homeless man who opens the door daily for everyone entering the subway, etc.
We try our best, we both know what it's like to have nothing, both come from poverty, we still don't have much, but compared to where we came from it's a huge improvement, so giving back comes naturally. Just last week hubby came home from walking the dogs upset, he said that there is a homeless looking couple in their twenties going through the dumpster behind an arabic restaurant, I told him to leave the dogs at home and go get them, he said: "Why what can we do? We are broke." But he went and got them, by the time he brought them over I had bags of clothes ready for both, and our dinner's leftovers which is all we had left in the fridge.
Last year we were still living at our old address, it was a poor, mostly immigrant street, lots of unemployed people, lots of drinking and drugs, the cops told us that street keeps them the most busy. Several times hubby ran outside our apartment because he heard screams, I always try to stop him and just call the cops, but if there are children or women involved he runs to the rescue without thinking twice. One incident that sticks out most is the woman who was getting brutally beaten by her partner right outside our window. Hubby ran out, told the abuser that cops are on the way and to let the woman go, he told her to go inside, pointing at our building, I took her in while the cops arrived almost instantly and got the guy. It drives me crazy that hubby puts his life on the line, but I see with my own eyes what a difference it makes. I know that not everyone can or should do extreme acts like this, and that the smallest things do matter very much also.
What drives me a little bonkers is selfish people who only cry for themselves, who only do for themselves, who do not care about the rest of the world because they are so darn focused on their own misery. For example, yesterday I was going to the doctor's, once I got into the building I saw that the elevator was broken and had to take the stairs, I was a bit worried because my pelvic and vaginal pain makes walking difficult especially up the stairs...well I went to take the stairs and saw a little woman with some kind of leg deformity trying really hard to make it up just one step, I picked her up by putting her arm around me and started to help her up the stairs by picking her legs up one by one, it was a long process to just go up two floors. There were people coming down the stairs and all they did is talk about how annoyed they are and make sounds in annoyance, because they could not walk by us to go downstairs and had to wait a couple of minutes. I could tell that they were really stressing out this poor woman, I stopped with her for a moment, put her leg down, looked at her stressed out little face and told her to not worry, take her time, that the people will gladly wait, and off we went. She never spoke to me, I think she had some kind of mental deficiency, but we understood each other. I understand that we all have problems, but that should NEVER stop us from being kind to others, never. At times all it takes to make someone's day is to talk to them, smile at them or share something with them. On that note I want to thank everyone on this forum, because every single day that I see your pups' sweet pictures or hear your stories, every single day is better, it cheers me up, it makes life more enjoyable, and for that split second it makes me focus on something other than pain. I'm very grateful to you all, and your random acts of kindness.
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