Friday, July 07, 2006

Kindness Karma - Blew me away

I was visiting Stacey's blog and I loved her post about Random Acts of Kindness.

The pleasant irony of her post is that I was a delighted victim of it yesterday.

Remember when I said that I finally bought myself a bike after 27 years?

Well, wouldn't you know - it rained, rained and rained since the day I got it. Then it was one thing after another on the better days.

Yesterday, I was able to go with my kids to a local bike trail. Finally! I had the juice packed, the helmuts and the enthusiasm.

What I didn't have was a bike that worked. My brand new bike slipped it's chain. I put a foot on the pedal, pushed and I heard a strange noise. I found that my ;
sing with me to the tune of the Wheels of the Bus:

Pedals of my bike went Round and Round,
Round and Round,
Round and Round.

The Pedals of my bike went Round and Round
but never moved over the ground.

Yes , that was me. My kids were riding in the parking lot with excited zeal and I was sitting on my trunk like a perplexed, poleaxed lump.

It's been 27 years! What did I know about chains except how to yank them? ( In a good way)
What can a clueless woman do? ( I was feeling REALLY blonde at that moment)

Here comes the Random Beauty of the Universe.

A family of five were out taking a walk. They were heading back our way from the trial and my kids were riding around them, telling them All About Mom and her busted brand spankin' new bike. ( why do kids tell total stangers all about your mortifying situations?)

Glad they did actually. The gentleman - he deserved the title - mosied on over and said,
"I haven't worked on a bike in quite awhile, but I'll take a look for you and see what I can do."

On top of that came one of his kids, a young girl, perhaps 10 -13 yrs old, who came up to me and said,
"I'm SO sorry that your bike is broken." then gave me a shy smile.

Wow, I thought to myself. What a great kid! I thanked her for saying that.

Sure enough, Mom and Dad came back over and took a look. Both of them hunched down and checked things out. He found some kind of doodad at the back wheel that loosened up the chain so he could have enough slack to rethread the chain. I'm watching these strangers, these random stangers providing what you have only been reading about:
Random Acts of Kindness.
I was the recipient yesterday and I just sat there on my trunk, and watched - totally amazed and touched.

I wanted to share this.

We hear of so much negativity around us. It's nice to be able to tell a tale of wonderful people who, through some unknown karma , were there at the right time, the right place.

I feel very blessed. On many levels. Physically And mentally.

Dear reader, I hope you experience a Random Act of Kindness in your life.

11 comments:

Brandy said...

How sweet! It is nice to know that there are still decent people out there!
Whenever I drive somewhere, I make it a point to either let someone go in fron of me, or to let them cross a walkway. It's nothing huge, but I feel better for it and hope they do to.

Bailey Stewart said...

Same as Brandy - or someone with less groceries than me get ahead; it's the little things that can brighten someone's day.

Bailey Stewart said...

Accckkkkkkk - where's your sidebar?

Bobbie (Sunny) Cole said...

Well, after the week I've had, your blog brightened MY day - lol.

mmmmmwah!

Michele said...

Hi Brandy - Yea, I've done that too. If someone has five items and I have twenty - I let them go UNLESS my kids have pushed all my buttons and turned me into a basket case. But's that rare ....



Bailey! I noticed my side bar was glitchey lately. Seems OK this AM - who knows what's going on - according to the blogger help site I am signed up with, it is a common worry.
Along with blog sites being hacked and taken over - scary stuff.

(just curious, Bailey, is that why you didn't visit the OTHER site? cuz it is updated ...) *wink*

but definitely, I agree that you DO feel good and brighten not only their day , but your own as well when you do a good deed.

Hey there Lyn ! -
((hugs)) on the icky week. So glad to hear that stopping by here gave you a little uplift. Cool.

Anonymous said...

That's a lovely story, Michele :)

Michele said...

Thanks, Bonnie! Thanks for stopping by!

Bailey Stewart said...

Exactly - no sidebar, no link.

Emmy Ellis said...

Awww. I'm a random kindness person. It's good to know people I've helped may feel like you did. Makes it worthwhile.

:o)

Nancy said...

What a great story--I have had a few of those as well, like when my car broke down at rush hour in Atlanta, and it would only go into reverse (the clutch cable or something broke). This guy in a big truck, stopped the traffic and helped me get my car backed up into a parking lot. He then let me use his cell phone to call my house. He even said he would wait with me until somebody came. Thanks to all of those folks out there that still believe in helping people out.

Michele said...

Bailey! I put you in my IE Favorites for just such an happenstance - I couldn't have a proper weekend if I missed SPAMARAMA Fridays! Dedicated fan I am. I am MAN Man a fan..... true.. my initials are MAN .. So it helps my Dr. Suess theme, LOL

M.E. - That's so sweet!

Nancy - Hey there! Wow, you had a guardian Angel with you! How wondrous. Thanks for sharing.

Devon, Welcome!! And you're right, to remind me and everyone that passing on the kindness increases the power of said kindess is the best possible way.
Thank you!

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