And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Matthew 25:40
As I waited at a red light on my way home from class this morning, I watched the happenings at the gas station next to which I was stopped. It was a simple scene, but one that stood out to me. Two strangers left their cars at opposite ends of the convenience store. One was well dressed and looked to be a business-type man; the other, if only going on appearance, I would have misjudged as some sort of trouble-maker. Both reached the store entrance at the same time . . . and the man I wouldn't have expected to stopped and opened the door for the other, letting him go first.
So what? one might think. This type of thing happens all the time.
But that's the point. Think of what opening the door for someone actually means! For me, it's like saying, "Hey, I've got someplace to be, but I see you're trying to get somewhere, too. I want to help you get there." Someone will take two seconds--if even that--and help a stranger. They probably don't even think about it after that, but it means something.
And it happens all the time.
There's a lot of bad in the world right now--but also a lot of good. And as long as strangers are opening doors for each other, in the end, we're gonna be alright. All of us are brothers and sisters, and when even the smallest act of kindness is performed, those involved are reminded, at least in some way, that we're just one big family. For one brief moment, it's not "You're this and I'm that"; it's "You're human, and I'm human, too!"
There's a lot of good a door can do.
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2 comments:
Simple things can make all the difference. On campus, students are always hosting canned food drives, or breast cancer awareness, bake sales and such. Most people walk by them and pretend not to hear them! Sometimes if I'm in a hurry I tell them, "I'm sorry, I'm really rushing! I'll come back!" And I do most of the time, unless I forget or really don't have $1.
Today I bought a $15 breast cancer awareness shirt. And apparently I started the whole thing, because a ton of people walked up and bought shirts after me.
I do my best to hold doors open, and just use basic manners. Karma: what goes around, comes around. :) :)
I know what you mean--I've had some seriously scary looking guys (think "biker dude" type scary) go out of their way to hold doors open for me. I've had a pair of guys run over to help lift an Ikea bookshelf into the trunk of a car when another person and I were struggling with it. Once at work, I was wheeling in a heavy metal cart from outside to protect it from the rain, when a wheel broke off and tumbled merchandise all over everywhere. An employee from the business next door came out, and actually hopped a small fence to help me clean up and right the (veryvery heavy metal) cart (I could not have done it without his help).
It's always nice when people are selflessly kind. :)
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