summertime kindness

It's the middle of the summer. The days are hot. VERY hot in some places.  Many of us are frustrated by stories in the news, especially the shooting last night.  People are in a hurry to get to their vacation spots.  Along the way, some folks get a little short-tempered. In the midst of all of this, I have COVID-19 AGAIN!  What a great time though to practice some random acts of kindness!

Tell people in your life why you love them.  Make a point of finding the name of a store employee and then praise him or her through that company’s corporate office.  Pay for the meal of the person behind you in the drive-through.  Bring flowers to work and share them with coworkers.  As you go about your day, pick up trash.  Donate blood.  When drivers try to merge into your lane, let them in with a wave and a smile.  Call or visit a homebound person.  Pay a compliment at least once a day.

 

These are just a few ideas.  Use your imagination.  The list really can be endless!  Summer of course isn't endless, and in a month or so, as summer winds down, let's let our kindness continue winding up!

Long Walk to Freedom

It was on this date in 1918 that Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born. We knew him as a lawyer, politician, activist, great leader, philanthropist, and a person who did indeed change the world. His autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, was published in 1984 and I can remember reading it around that time and thinking about how incredibly strong this man was to have done so much and to have endured so much. Mandela presided over the transition from apartheid minority rule to a multicultural democracy in South Africa and he showed the world how people from all backgrounds can work together.

If ever there was a poster person for what this blog is all about, it would be Nelson Mandela.  He was not only a great leader who made a huge difference in this world, but he did it with dignity and grace and a sense of humor. 

 

It was Mandela that said "There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires." Many of us experience our own long walk to freedom.  How about you?

Seeing Mandela's life and remembering his words can inspire us and push us forward.  In his words: "For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."
 

You'll never walk alone

We are getting closer and closer to this year's AIDS Walk San Francisco in Golden Gate Park. I have registered to participate for the 35th time and my fundraising is going along nicely. (Please click HERE if you would like to become one of my sponsors). Thanks so very much to everyone who has donated so far!

My personal finances won't allow me to actually be present this year, but I still want to raise awareness and raise funds.

One thing I will miss comes at the end of the opening ceremony each year.  There is a singing of a song that has become an anthem for AIDS Walk more or less, but as I think about the lyrics right now, I realize that it can easily be an anthem for each of our lives!

"You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel, and it had a popularity back in the sixties when Gerry and the Pacemakers recorded it. We could all get something every day of our lives though out of these wonderful and encouraging words:

When you walk through a storm, hold your head up high

And don’t be afraid of the dark

At the end of the storm, there’s a golden sky

And the sweet, silver song of a lark

Walk on through the wind

Walk on through the rain

Though your dreams be tossed and blown

Walk on, walk on

With hope in your heart

And you’ll never walk alone

You’ll never walk alone

Walk on, walk on

With hope in your heart

And you’ll never walk alone

You’ll never walk alone

Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness

It has been 248 since this document was written. How many Americans today know these words? If you were asked to recite the Declaration of Independence, could you? Most people are familiar with the first sentence of the second paragraph: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." What about the rest?

The first paragraph is something we had to memorize when I was in school: "When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."

Today of course is Independence Day, the Fourth of July.  A document that refers to equality, and the act of standing up for ourselves back then, is something we should celebrate indeed. Where are we today though? We are missing a LOT of liberty here in this country.  There is so no true equality here.  How about life and the pursuit of happiness? With all the violence - the daily murders and assaults, it seems that so many are being denied their lives and basic happiness. With parades, fireworks and patriotic music over the weekend, along with picnics and boating, and baseball games, there is a lot of celebrating going on.  From where I sit though, we need to not only celebrate this wonderful country, but work to see that equality becomes the actually way we live, and that gun violence is something from the past. Think America is great? Think it can be greater?

I want to see the day when every person is treated with decency and with respect. We can make it happen. Let's stop the hate and heal the divisions.

Show the world you care

Showing that you care can make a world of difference.  "Being there" is how some might refer to it.

My mother used to remember the birthday of every single person she knew.  She would give presents to some and send cards to some, but to so many there would be a telephone call.  It wouldn't be a long one necessarily, but she would wish them a happy birthday.  She showed by her call, that she cared.

When you hear that someone is ill or hear of someone's death, a brief call (for someone you are very close to) and certainly a card, conveys the same message - "I'm here for you.  I care."

How about the race for political office or an important court ruling or the campaign to raise money for the church improvements or any number of causes?  Show you care.  Get involved.  Become a part of it.  There are certainly many ways to show you care.  You might have some of your own suggestions.  Showing the world you care is really a good thing!