I can remember recently seeing an elderly lady bend over (with obvious effort) just to pickup a piece of garbage (food wrapper?) off the sidewalk, and then put it in a bin. So many of us would have complained about the litter and walked on by.

My hat recently blew off and into the road. Before I had even decided how to get it, a car had stopped and the driver was waving me over so that I could retrieve it. So many of us would have just continued driving.

There are many situations that reinforce the “humane” part of us that are worthy of remembering, if only to counteract the negatives that confront us every day.  Even your Comments here can have an impact that may surprise you.

I recently Posted some writings by my daughter Melanie*. Her circumstances are very difficult for reasons totally out of her control, and I recently created a hard copy of that Post**, together with all your Comments, and sent it to her. A few days later, we just returned home after taking Ray out for his walk and noticed that we had a phone message. It was Melanie.

She was almost incoherent as she was clearly very emotional, but it was a happy kind of emotion. After she had thanked me for sending her the Post and Comments, she went to great lengths to explain what the Comments meant to her.  She was so touched because, not only did you take a few moments out of your lives to write them, but they were so supportive of her writing. She had not realized what an impact her writings could have and, in “her world”, affirmation of  personal value is so important … and all this from your Comments.

It is certainly worth  remembering that, whether it is picking up a piece of litter or being simply courteous, or just expressing positive thoughts about another, the effort involved really is minimal … but the  repercussions can be remarkable, and what an example to set for others. Just thinking.

* The link below explains much more however, note that the GoFundMe project is now closed as it served its immediate purpose, and the jewelry project was not practical for health related dexterity reasons

https://meandray.com/2017/02/19/a-very-different-post/

** The link below goes to the Post which was sent to her.

https://meandray.com/2018/08/27/by-faith/