Little Kindnesses

There are many kindnesses in this world, and I just so happened to be in the right place at the right time to witness one today.

I was sitting in my car in the parking lot of the local hotdog eatery, eating my dog and drinking a Coke, reading The Mosquito Coast. A woman pulled up behind me in her dented and rusted car. Very quietly, without any fanfare, she got out of her car with a bag and a small glass. She walked right by the side of my car, went into the branches of the huge Oak tree in front of me, bent down for a while, and then started walking back to her car. I noticed she had a bag of cat food in her hand.

Earlier, I had commented to my husband, upon his return from ordering our food, that I had seen a lone cat cross the road, go into the branches of the tree, hang out there for a while, then came out and crossed that same road in that same spot, walked up the stairs to the apartments, and vanished. I had wondered what had made him cross the street.

And now I knew. As this woman walked by our car to get back to hers, we started talking. This woman has been coming to this spot every day for the past three years just to feed the hungry. The “hungry” being this one cat. She also brings water.

She was not much to look at. Her hair had not seen shampoo in a while. She obviously needed a trip to the dentist. Seemed lonely. Just a lone and lonely soul in the midst of a crowded world who had connected with another lone soul.

Somehow, she found a way to buy cat food in order to bring nourishment to a little cat that she thought was “skin and bones” three years ago. And she has made a commitment to come every single day.

What have I done to help feed the hungry? Every day. For three years.

The Lone Mower

Alright, so my husband and I just went to Hardee’s for a Thickburger. I know, not the best choice for our health. But we were tired, and he had to get back quickly for a seminar. So we had to eat in a hurry. Isn’t that what FastFoodJoints are all about? It is sort of like that old saying, when you are working on any project; you have to decide between Price, Quality, and Time. You can get two of those, but never all three. Such is the case with Fast Food Places. You can eat Fast and Cheap, but you won’t get Healthy.

Anyway, that’s not my point.

My point is this... as we were eating our burgers in our car in the shade of the parking lot, we couldn’t keep our eyes off The Man on the Riding Lawnmower. He was obviously one of those Employed By The City to keep our highways and byways beautifully shorn. And he was doing his job meticulously. Over and over and over, mowing the 6' curbside swath, back and forth, forth and back. At least 6 times. I mean, how many swipes of a mower does it take to cut a swath? If he took one more pass over that stretch of curbside grass, I think he would have started his own private dig to China. Us tax payers got our money's worth. Or should I say, The Lone Mower got our hard-earned tax-paid money's worth? Over and over and over...6 times over.

On our way home, we passed The Rest of the Other Empoyees huddled in the median around several behemoth vehicles whose engines were not running. Obviously, the Lone Mower was doing the job of eight paid lounging men.

I thought to myself, while these men are talking about the cars that are passing them en route from The Hardees, why couldn’t they just cruise over to my house and work on my yard since it is my taxpayer dollars going into their pockets? I am sure, with all of them working, it wouldn’t take them all of five minutes to do the job.

On second thought, I think I’ll go with The Lone Mower. He’d get the job done, and it would probably take him just as long, he’d not leave one blade of grass unshorn, and we've already overpaid him.