Memory Challenge Day 24


Random acts of kindness. A new catchphrase, but an age-old value.
When has someone touched you by being kind beyond your expectations? When have you randomly done a kind act for someone not in your family or close circle of friends?

		A kindness done to me Ohio Wesleyan sent me to a summer program in Japan. A group of students from different schools first gathered to study Japanese for two weeks in Sedona, Arizona. In Japan, a family put me up, fed me, and took me on a trip to Kyoto: they were extremely generous. But the first Act of Kindness to come to my mind was that of a young Japanese American college student, one of our teachers in Arizona. I don't remember her name. In August she met our return flight at the airport in San Francisco (back before security lines, when you could greet travelers at their gates). I discovered that my connection to fly the rest of the way home was at a different airport! I was exhausted and I didn't know what to do. She took me home with her and put me up for the night, then helped me get to a connecting flight the next day. She didn't have to do that. I don't think I thanked her adequately. But I will always remember her kindness (and some lengths of fabric she had hanging in her apartment which seemed very artistic to me).

		A kindness on my part This summer I did do one small act that I think qualifies. A very nice man lives a couple of blocks from me; he has a fine garden. I have sometimes stopped to chat with him, and have often gone out of my way to stop and smell his roses. But this year they were seriously neglected. Might he be ill? I thought of offering to prune them but felt shy about knocking on his door, potentially disturbing him. Still, one day I grabbed my gloves and my pruning shears and knocked. No one answered, but I went ahead and started cutting out dead wood. And I met his (not a gardening sort) brother, who lives across the street! Unfortunately my friend had been moved to assisted living, but at least he got to hear that his neighbors appreciate his roses.


	A child made a fairy garden in our condominium courtyard this year. I love that the girl did it herself, using her little treasures and bits of nature she found. So sometimes I assist the fairies in the garden who bring her little things. After the first snow a tiny glass snowman appeared (it had broken off a Christmas swizzle stick and had been living as a candle decoration.) However, I enjoy doing this so much it isn't kind at all.

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