A few days ago I saw a post on Facebook by a very good friend of mine. It was a poem written by Danusha Laméris. I would love to share this with you this morning. This poem eloquently encapsulates a philosophy that I have long believed and tried to practice. It is the little kindnesses that we practice every day that make a huge impact upon our world. A little kindness done to us can inspire us be more kind to others. A little kindness that we offer to someone else can well turn the bad day they are having into a much better one. Here is the poem:
“Small Kindnesses”
I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk
down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs
to let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you”
when someone sneezes, a leftover
from the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die,” we are saying.
And sometimes, when you spill lemons
from your grocery bag, someone else will help you
pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other.
We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot,
and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile
at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress
to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder,
and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.
We have so little of each other, now. So far
from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.
What if (emphasis added) they are the true dwelling of the holy, these
fleeting temples we make together when we say “Here,
have my seat,” “Go ahead – you first,” “I like your hat.”
Think about it.
You are loved. Peace.
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