Hi there!
This is a crazy time for so many people for so many reasons. I have found myself, more and more, wanting to change things, and feeling so overwhelmed and tired that I also don't want to do ANYTHING. I feel a call to action and a paralyzing sadness that are in such opposition that creates immobility.
But that isn't what I'm here to talk about.
In the midst of this feeling of melancholy, I have also seen wonderful moments of beauty- and I can tell you, they help. I have started to seek them out- I follow Instagram accounts that leave me happy, not feeling like less or feeling sad. I read stories that inspire me and make me happy. I've noticed a common thread.
There are definitely stories of random beauty- a perfect sunset, having an old song come on the radio at the right moment, your art piece turning out the way you want. Moments of magic, and I think that is what they are- magic. Meant to remind us that there are good things left worth fighting for. But the stories I love, that bring a little glimmer to my eyes and make me smile, are the ones that people bring to each other. It is so easy to feel disconnected and separated from each other- there are a billion things to fight about- and many of them are worth fighting for. But sometimes, all of that fades for a second in the face of someone's need. I LOVE the stories about a person who sees another person hurting and does not stop to ask if the person deserves to be helped- they just help.
My little sister is a key example of this. She touches people and hope blooms. She has taught herself to see a need, and to react without question. I admire it so much. I remember we were at the beach and we were standing in the waves. A woman was standing with her small child in her arms letting the waves tickle the child's toes. And a particularly aggressive wave took her down. She was holding the child up out of the water, but that meant that she couldn't get herself up out of the water. Before I even had time to process what was happening, my sister ran in and grabbed the kid so that the mother could get back on her feet. It shook me out of my processing enough to go offer her a hand. It was a small thing, but it showed me that we can always be looking for opportunities to spread a tiny bit of kindness.
There was a video- a woman sitting alone at a mall food court. A young man walks up and asks her to hold a bouquet of flowers for him while he puts his jacket on. He gets his jacket on and then asks her to have a good day, leaving the flowers. She looks concerned at first, until she realizes that was his intent all along. And then her face changes and you see her cry. I don't know what that woman may have been going through, but you could see how much that small act mattered.
I know someone who was struggling, a lot, with a lot of things. One of those things was money. He had a horrible toothache, and he went to get it taken care of, scraping together enough for the bill- except when he got there, they told him that wasn't the full price- it was just the procedure, and didn't include the office visit or multiple other charges. He broke down. He felt so inadequate and so frustrated and so tired and helpless. He stepped out of the office to collect himself and saw a woman in the waiting room. He was embarrassed she had seen him break down. He worked out a deal with the dentist to pay the part of the bill he had expected, and the rest he would find a way to pay off with a payment plan. He got the root canal, and then he walked out to find his bill was half of what he thought it would be- the woman in the waiting room had paid for part of it. She saw someone in need and didn't see weakness, she saw a fellow human. She didn't ask if he deserved it- he did- she just knew she could make someone's day a little less heavy.
It hit me, that maybe we are the miracles. Not always- there are those moments of serendipity that take your breath away, and I love those moments. But the rest of the miracles are what we do for each other. The moments we do a little extra that means almost nothing to us but changes someone's whole day- the little thing that you didn't think meant anything that pulled someone from a dark cloud and back into the light. I hope I can learn from my sister- enough to recognize the moments where I could spread a little light. Maybe the change I've been craving is in recognizing the moments of magic, and also in actively being a part in creating them.
