Decided to pick up a little coffee treat at Starbucks for my daughter, who is supposed to be living her best life at college right now, but is instead quarantined in the house with me, who asks her to proofread my memes while I chew pretzels too loudly.
As I pulled up to the drive-thru window, I was greeted by the words, “You are not alone”.
A simple, hand-made sign. A small gesture. And one that instantly made me feel a little better. Which made me start thinking about all the other times lately that my spirits have been raised from the kindness of people.
My sister in San Francisco finally found some much needed disinfecting wipes. They came in a 3 pack, so she kept one and decided to leave the others at the doors of two elderly neighbors in her apartment building.
A few weeks ago, I was at Costco and stock was pretty low on many items. As I was passing through an aisle, a man and a woman both reached for the last case of canned beans at the same time. “Oh, sorry,” the woman apologized. “Please,” the man replied, “you take it. We’re all in this together.”
A gentleman in my small town walked into our grocery store and asked the manager how many people worked there. He returned shortly thereafter with 150 $75 gift cards for every employee in the store.
I’ve read stories of teachers showing up at their student’s home to help with math from the front porch, birthday party car parades for quarantined children, neighbors helping neighbors.
Life is hard right now, no question about it. But I believe that for every “bad guy” profiled in the news, there are 100 more good guys that would gladly lend a hand. I believe that most people will rise to the occasion. I believe that even the smallest act of kindness is a powerful thing.
And I’d like to believe that personally, I will be a stronger, more compassionate, more grateful human when this is all over. I’d like to believe we all will.
So hang in there, everybody…you are not alone. ❤️