Random Acts Of Kindness And Redemption Like all self-respecting addicts, I have spent a good part of my life chasing those occasional, euphoric glimpses of the mountaintop. A little was never enough. I always wanted more. Solely in the interest of science I even did a couple of years of serious experimentation with little white-cross pills and white powders inhaled through a straw, to see if they were the answer. They werent. Recently I have made two startling discoveries, and I can almost here my smart-mouthed daughter Froggy saying Well, Duh, Daddy to both of them. First, when youre only 50 pounds overweight, instead of 350 pounds, you feel better. Amazing, isnt it? I am waking these days alert and joyful, truly thankful each day for the miracle of one more sunrise. To paraphrase Taj Mahal, in his lovely and rhythmic Take A Giant Step,....... Remember the feeling as a child, when you woke up and morning smiled, (Isnt it time) you felt that way again? These days, far more often than not, I do! My second spiritual discovery is a little less intuitively obvious, but equally true and rewarding. This morning I arrived at the pool for my daily half-mile swim feeling a bit tired and even depressed. This made no sense to me, since I had just spent a wonderful two hours recalling and penning a story about one of my heroes, Tony Amsterdam. It is one of the maddening truths of the mountaintop that we cant always see it, no matter how hard we try. They once asked the Buddha what he did before his enlightenment. I chopped wood and fetched water was his reply. And what do you do now? was the next question. I chop wood and fetch water was the disappointingly mundane reply. In any event Friday is the day I have set for a weekly symbiotic act of kindness to keep myself spiritually centered and physically fit. On Fridays the Mt. Scott pool gives free one-day passes to street people, to come in and shower. (Parenthetically, this is one of the kinder and more enlightened uses I have seen of our tax dollars!) So, according to my now two week old ritual, I gave my very yummy and healthful turkey, tomato and celery sandwich and banana to the receptionist at the front desk, to pass on to a hungry street person of her choice. I had initially feared a bureaucratic response of We cant do that, insurance you know. Not so! She has enthusiastically jumped into the newly forming circle of love, beaming the whole time. I said this was symbiotic, and it is. First, I get another quarter pound or so closer to my weight loss goal. Second, and far more important, as I wheeled away toward the pool after the exchange, I wasnt tired or depressed any more. Imagine that. I was instantly reminded of a day after work about ten years ago. The daily commute home was a two bus jaunt, with a steep, uphill trek from 5th Avenue to 6th Avenue in between. My arthritis was acting up terribly on that day, and I winced with back and hip pain on the way up the hill. Then I ran into one of the regular street people, a pencil vendor, laboriously wheeling his wheelchair up the same hill. Instinctively I offered him a push, which he gratefully accepted; and then I made two amazing discoveries. The first was purely mechanical and physical. There was something about the angle of my exertion leaning over to push his chair that relieved the stress on my back. I felt much better pushing him than I had hobbling up the hill by myself. The second discovery didnt really dawn on me until twenty minutes later, after my bus trip home. My back pain was completely gone! I had an epiphany a few months ago at my nursing home when I was amazed by the extent to which all the nurses, nurses aides and other staff were sharing in the joy of my weight loss and recovery. The opportunity to give is a gift, binding the giver and the recipient together in a powerful circle of love with the capacity to grow exponentially as we pay it forward. So, whoever the street-person is who finally munched on my turkey sandwich and banana today, Thank You! I feel a whole lot better.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 22:13:57 +0000
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