Grace

Kindness & chivalry are not dead!

I've meant to write about this for weeks! As I like to think of it, events sometimes overtake us. Could be personal life stuff. Could be wider world stuff. You know.

In any case, things just kept overtaking me.

So.

Here's what happened one day quite a few weeks ago now:

I needed a new cord for my landline phone. Yes, I'm "old-fashioned" & still use one of those. I have my reasons, okay?

So I needed a new cord to connect the phone to the modem - or whatever that thing is that connects the phone to the cable from my telephone provider. You know. That thing.

I like a long one so I can walk around the apartment a bit while I'm chatting. The one I was using was all twisted up & I was getting static on the line. Time for a new cord!

So I set out down my busy Toronto street this day to get me a new long phone cord.

First stop was the last place I'd bought one of these. A computer store.

They don't carry them any more.

'cos I'm a dinosaur (I know, I know) & they're no longer much in demand.

The clerk in that first store suggested a couple other places I could try.

So I went in & out of 2 or 3 other stores.

No dice.

Then I thought "Well, I guess it would make sense to go into the store of the phone company." Which mostly sells cell phones & related paraphernalia.

They didn't have one either.

But!

There was a man in the store - another customer.

He heard me chatting with the store clerk & piped up that his father - his 80-something-year-old father - had a whole bunch of old cords.

And said that he could go by his Dad's place & get me one, & then drop back to the store & leave it for me!

Well - wow!

I was blown away by this utter stranger's kindness - to a stranger - some woman he doesn't know who's clearly a dinosaur … though maybe not quite as ancient as his father.

We left it that he would drop the cord off at the store & I would return in a couple of hours & pick it up.

And that's what happened!

I went back, & he had left me a little plastic bag with 3 phone cords in it.

And presto.

My problem was solved!

A lovely example of the kind of grace that can happen to us when we're least expecting it. I'd had something pretty unpleasant happen in my personal life just the day before. My spirits were kind of low.

City life is filled with endless surprises, I tellya!

Lovely friendly exchanges with store staff or fellow customers in stores or at the library … or wherever. Toronto has become something of a s---hole, to be perfectly honest (& Canada?? Has become a horror show. Ugh.) And yet? One still encounters strangers who will smile at you, or even say "Good morning."

Amazing.

The world is pretty darn cuckoo these days, as we all know entirely too well.

But it still has its moments of, well ... grace!

Too.

I recall running across this meme a while back now.

Seems to me there’s quite a bit of evidence that the world is being run by some folks who will destroy things, only to “rule over” the ashes.

Yeesh!

But this is also true:

So.

I'll keep on being actively grateful, counting my many blessings, & being especially grateful when one of these episodes of pure grace comes along.

“Love life. Take great pleasure in small offerings. Believe that the world owes you nothing. Understand that every gift given to you is just that.” – Maya Angelou

** Gratitude can transform your life! Lots of great quotes about it here.

p.s. after picking up the phone cords, I decided to take the streetcar home rather than walk, 'cos it was starting to rain & I hadn't thought to take an umbrella with me. There was a guy sitting on the bench in the bus shelter who looked not in the best shape, shall we say. He asked me for directions on how to get downtown on the streetcar. (He was sitting on the wrong side of the street for heading downtown.) He seemed friendly. Smelled a bit like he'd been drinking - though he was not out-and-out drunk by any means. I offered him a streetcar ticket I'd been carrying around in my wallet for eons (those have also gone pretty much the way of the dinosaur ... but they're still valid). Then I gave him a $5 bill. He looked like he could use it. He seemed very grateful. I was happy to have been able to pass on a little bit of unexpected grace to this kindly-seeming stranger. City life! You just never know what will happen next...