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| Brynwood Needleworks via Internet |
Social Media. The double-edged sword. A place where anonymity spawns harsh words and bullies, but also a place where you can choose to spread kindness. I'd like to share a story with you...
Last night, Handsome and I were watching the Milwaukee Brewers getting their hats handed to them. It was a painful game to watch, so I grabbed my iPhone and hopped on Facebook to see what was going on with my friends. I also belong to a local group of residents - past and present - of my hometown, located about fifteen minutes from our farmhouse.
In that group, a young woman asked for help from anyone in town who might be able to come and remove a cat that had been killed and repeatedly run over right in front of her house. It was especially disturbing for her, and she hope someone could help.
What I read, rather than multiple people in town offering to help, was a collection of unkind comments, shaming her for not just handling it herself. "Don't you have a guy to help you?"; "Shovel + Bag = Problem Solved"; "In the time it took you to write this, you could have taken care of it.". You get the idea. A whole culture of couch potatoes unwilling to do anything, but more than happy to make this young lady feel even worse.
I wrote, "Please send me a private message and I'll come and take care of it for you.". Within seconds, she sent me a message, giving me her address and being oh so grateful. Handsome said he'd drive; I grabbed a plastic bag, my gloves and our shovel. Did I mention it rained most of the evening?
It only took about twenty minutes to get to her home, and we just parked on the side street next to her address. We grabbed our gear and (at 10:30 pm) shoveled the remains of a thoroughly flat and messy feline off the road and into our bag. It took less than 90 seconds and it was taken care of.
I knocked on her door and introduced myself. I told her we had removed the cat so she wouldn't have to look at it any more, and asked if we could put the bag in her garbage tote, rather than carry it all the way back to our house. She said yes, and thanked us for being willing to help. After disposing of the bag and its contents, we were on our way back to the farm.
An act of kindness that took us less than forty five minutes round-trip, so that a young woman could wake up tomorrow without the reminder of this poor, flat cat.
She sent me another message while we were on our way home, thanking us profusely and telling us that, if we ever need anything, she'd be happy to reciprocate. I told her it was our pleasure to help her, and suggest she pay it forward as she was able. She also commented back on her original Facebook post to thank us publicly. A few others also thanked us for helping.
It was that easy. A simple act of kindness to benefit someone else. We felt great. We were happy to be good neighbors - even if we live about fifteen miles away. Just be kind.
What a kind gesture to make this woman feel better.
ReplyDeletePeople can be so cruel, but not willing to help, just voice their opinion. It doesn't take much effort for even a small gesture of kindness. Just last week, I saw an elderly man in the grocery store trying to open 2 of those plastic bags for produce,he was really struggling. So, I offered to help & got it open for him. He was ever so grateful, & I left with a happy feeling that I helped someone.
Marilyn
What a great story Donna - thank you and Handsome for going out of your way on a rainy evening to be kind to a stranger. Perhaps some of those uncaring people on Facebook will learn a lesson (altho' I seriously doubt it). The world needs more people like you!
ReplyDeleteDonna you and Handsome are Angels here on Earth. Your thoughtful Act of Kindness is what we need more of on a daily basis. Our society is such a mess of ungratefuls who just believe they are “entitled”. Oops...I better step off my soapbox now. Thank you both for helping someone who asked and was in need. Blessings dear...xo
ReplyDeleteSocial Media...probably why I don't have a blog. I have seen to many horrible things. Once following a thread I found a spaghetti recipe that though caloric sounded incredible. Looking at the 100's of notes that followed I was shamed just reading them. So many attacks about the calories, the fat content, and it wen on and on. Out of the hundreds there were just a handful that were positive. It really bothered me so I started looking around the blog. What I found was even more disturbing. That was the last post. She never wanted to post again after all of the attacks... My Mother's words had been going through my head the entire time I had been scanning these notes. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. You are right Donna, the anonymity of social media brings out the very worst in people some times. I just wish if they didn't want to say something nice they would refrain themselves from responding at all. If that had been me with the dead cat in front of my house I would not have been able to take care of it now. I just could not have done it. Thank goodness there are people like you and Handsome who not only respond with something nice but then you act on it also.
ReplyDeleteWhat a good thing to do, Donna. It's nice to see people reaching out. Hopefuly someone learned something from that.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful thing to do! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWe have a local company (or individual, not sure which) that makes T-shirts, signs, and miscellaneous other items, that say "Just Be Kind" in tie-dye fashion and they are showing up all over town. I may take a picture of mine and post it on my blog.
Thanks again!