Yesterday, for the second time in my life, I drove a car so far down the gas gauge that I actually ran out of gas. The first time I did that was a number of years ago when we lived in The Big City, and the car died just as I pulled up to the pump, which was oddly satisfying. I congratulated myself on the great timing, even though I knew I should have visited the gas station about 10 miles earlier.
Yesterday, however, I ended up on the side of the road. Fortunately, I had already dropped the kids off for school, and also fortunately, I was close enough to home to hoof it back easily. I grabbed the gas can out of the back, locked the doors, wrapped Marmite the dog in my jacket, and headed home to trade my shoes out and drop off the dog before walking back to the gas station to fill the gas can.
About 45 minutes later, I was heading back to my car with a nearly full 2-gallon gas can weighing me down and stumbling over large, frozen chunks of snow and ice on the side of the road because there are few sidewalks in that direction. The day was warm--nearly 40 deg. F!--and I was glad to get some exercise out of doors, even if I now stank of gasoline despite all my efforts not to.
When I was a couple blocks from my car, a big pickup truck chugged up alongside me and a female voice called, "Do you need a ride?" I did a very quick evaluation (as any woman does) to see if it was safe, and then accepted the ride. She dropped me off about a minute later, and I thanked her warmly. Then I poured some gas into the tank, drove to the gas station, and put more gas in the tank.
I didn't know the woman who picked me up, and we didn't exchange names. We did find out our kids go to the same elementary school. The point was that she took some time out of her day to show kindness to a stranger, and what took her 30 seconds meant a great deal to me. I could easily have made it to my car, but she made my day a little easier. It was her willingness to do that for me that warmed my heart so greatly.
People don't know that the small things they do mean something. When someone smiles at me in the grocery store or neighbors stop to chat for a few seconds, I am truly touched. I also love watching my friends and neighbors do kind things for others. A few weeks ago, some people in our congregation (but who don't actually go to church because of their poor health) needed some help cleaning their home, and a crowd showed up one Saturday morning to answer the call. Only a couple people in the crowd had met the people for whom we were cleaning, but everyone eagerly pitched in. A few hours later, some significant inroads had been made. No one complained about the work, and everyone worked hard. Things like that happen all of the time.
One of my friends posted on his Facebook page an article criticizing the LDS church because we don't do more service. The article complained that while the church in general provides plenty in donations and commodities for humanitarian needs in various parts of the country or world that are ravaged by terrible weather or other horrible situations, individual congregations are not more actively involved in recognizable charity programs. He then used a particular non-LDS church congregation as his example of righteousness. This congregation worked each Sunday in feeding the homeless and working with a local charity to provide relief services and donations for women and children. The tone of the article was very critical. Why don't we do more of that? the author wondered. Here we are just going to church on a Sunday. Is that just paying lipservice to Christ's admonition to clothe the naked and feed the hungry? Shouldn't we be doing more recognizable good works and not sitting around in Sunday meetings talking about it?
I was pretty disgusted and upset with the article, and I read a few comments some other LDS people had made that also sounded equally miffed as the author (and self-righteous at the same time). But further down, I read a comment that made my day. It was written by a non-LDS woman living in Utah, and she chastised the author and earlier commenters a little bit. She said she had seen numerous instances of LDS people helping others out, whether they were members of the church or not, and she also noted that most of those people wouldn't dream of publicizing their good works. What they did was done quietly and with no fanfare. What astounded her was that people were showing up to help neighbors before she even knew there was a problem. Meals were brought in or help showed up, and none of the do-gooders bragged about it later or felt the need to make a big deal of it.
I don't know if the woman who picked me up yesterday felt a warm glow about helping out a stranger. I hope she did. Her act of kindness was small and seemingly insignificant, but little acts like that, compounded over thousands and thousands of people, equal tidal waves of goodness. Such kindness and charity combats the rising tide of evil that champions Law of the Jungle thinking, that declares that individuals do not matter, and that compassion is only acceptable if it conforms to the tenants of a particular religion or ideology or government program. I think people are generally good, and I think that given the choice, most people prefer choosing to do a small, kind act if given the chance. There are the exceptions, of course, but for now, the hearts of most men and women have not yet turned so cold that the plight of another is not a beckoning call to do something, anything.
If you are the kind of person who smiles at strangers, offers help when there is obvious need, or even just holds a door or says "thank you" and "please," I am glad I'm in the world with you.
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