Day 9 ~ The Kindness of Others...
This year has been a doozy for so many people in our community of friends and family. Illness, death, car accidents, unemployment and two catastrophic floods in the Austin area have stretched people that I care deeply for to the very frayed ends of their ropes. I would never wish this type of pain and suffering on anyone, but I want to just acknowledge what a beautiful thing it is when people come together to help those who find themselves in desperate situations. If you google (which I just did) "Acts of Kindness" you will find that there are about 15,900,000 results for videos wanting to pass along the same message. It seems that by our very nature we want to help find a solution when we know someone is facing what feels like insurmountable obstacles. I have witnessed the kindness and generosity of so many people from so many walks of life over the last year: food deliveries, childcare, hospital visits, memorials, clothing donations, financial donations, housing donations. People opening up and taking care of one another on a truly human level...providing the littlest things, and the largest things...some folks that have known each other for years, some who have not yet met, and may never meet. I know that kindness to one another doesn't fix *everything*, it doesn't bring people we've lost back, it doesn't cure disease, it doesn't always help pay the electric bill or the rent...but...it is the mender of fractured hope. It is the darner of our threadbare connection to the belief that someday it is all going to be okay again. You people out there that have lifted up so many this year...for you I am eternally grateful.