Quite amazing

Round here...

One
I went in to a bodega to buy my girl some flowers. I asked the guy behind the counter where he was from. He told me he was from Cambodia. I said that I would like to visit there some day. He offered me a smoke. I don't smoke, but accepted and thanked him.

Two
As I was on my way to work I had to leave a large metropolis of about 11 million people. The streets at 6:15 in the morning weren't that crowded and very few people were scurrying to get to wherever they were planning to go. I watched this one kid cross the street in front of a large cathedral. He blessed himself out of respect and kept on trucking it to his employment.

Three
Walking up the street I became aware of a kid following me in a burka of sorts. His face was covered and it was black. He had green khakis on and carried nothing. Should I tell someone, should I be suspicious?? Should I hold him to the ground and call the cops?? Should I let him greet the rising sun, like I do every day??

Helping Hand to a Stranger

I travelled this weekend. I met two people on the plane. One was a girl going to Cali to start a job iwth Yahoo. The other was a Manager of Operations for a large electrical company.
He has a daughter who has just accepted an internship in Australia for jounralism. She will be spending a few weeks in Vienna and requested time in Bosnia. Being her father he was very concerned. Her name is Katie.
Being unfamiliar with the airport I was going to he waited til I got off the plane, waited while I bought some breathmints (I was going to see my crush), and showed me exactly where to go to meet her.
He was a stranger, who didn't have to do that at all for some guy he just met on a plane. He was very nice and I want to thank, John P. for his help.

Small Miracles

My cat started giving birth to her kittens this morning. What a miraculous and wondrous process birth is. The two times we are equalled in this life are birth and death. Nothing else matters at those two points. It seems a shame to separate ourselves over trivial things between those two points.
Today I have thought about the rifts in my life and how I want to heal them. They will and time will pass.

Community

Being in my own religious organization I can see how ideaologies divide people. I saw Flight of the Pheonix recently and there was one character who s/d, "I'm not religious. Religion divides people. I am spiritual."
Without getting into a debate , I wanted to focus on the community aspect of it. In my community we have five kids, whom we all are responsible for raising. We love and care for each other. We gossip like mad and have little picts like every else. It's a strong sens eof family tied with devotion. And we exclude no one and invite everyone whether they believe in out path or their own.
All are valid.

When I find similar expressions of humanity, I tend to like it. So I stumbled across this site - The Thursday Night Gathering. The description from their website reads:
We are a group of friends and acquaintances. We are people who help each other move. We paint each other’s bathrooms. We make birthday cakes. We are people who want to recognize that time is not a renewable resource, it matters how you spend it We want to know the new lady with the little girl who moved in next door. The guy in the next cubical. The dreadlock barista at the coffee shop. The yoga teacher with the cool chimes. The plumber at our worksite. The outrageous waiter with the t-shirt that says, “I’m Gay.. Don’t Tell Anyone.” We are people who like life. We are artists. We are computer programmers. We are parents. We are beer lovers. We are people who fight, who laugh, get bored, get inspired. We make music; we make soup. We laze around in the sun; we play scrabble in the rain. We listen to loud music; we go with each other to get tattoos. We read good novels; we learn about wine and cheese. We are explorers. We are people who want to worship God, and talk to God, and listen to God. We are people who readily admit we are not entirely sure what that means. We are people who learn not from a leader, but from one another. We blow dust off of old books, we reform old beliefs. We uncover ancient practices and make them our own. We say, “I was wrong,” We look twice at something that catches our eye. We seek.

Just thought that was cool and wanted to share.

Prayer for a Stranger

I was at work when someone noticed that there was no traffice moving on the large suspension bridge a few blocks away. This was due to a woman who, distraught by recent events in her life, had climbed the side of the bridge with the intent of committing suicide.

While at lunch I was listening to the radio the various DJs took turns making wisecracks and suggesting there be a specific time limit prior to direct police action. The this girl called in.

She asked if she could say a prayer for the girl on the bridge. They asked if she knew who this girl was and she replied, "no". But she wanted to pray for her that she might get down off the bridge and get help for whatever was bothering her.

Surprisingly, the DJ allowed her to and it was just the most stilling and touching moment when she began praying for a complete stranger, regardless of faith.

From Tina

Tina sent me this and I thought I should share because it made me feel good:

I've been a little down lately, but I did a good thing today. My mother's birthday is Monday and she turns 75, but she's still in the nursing home. We sent a check so she could get her hair cut and colored and get a manicure earlier in the week, and today we came in with all sorts of gifts. But my most inspired move seemed to be walking in with a sheet cake big enough to feed all the people in her wing. Chocolate....with buttercream frosting....and it was really good. I checked with the nurses because I didn't want to give anyone anything that might kill them or cause an allergic reaction or anything, and they helped me set up a room so we could have a party. If you want to see 70 and 80 and 90 year olds turn back into little kids again...show up with a birthday cake.

One of the nurses said to me later "You did a good thing here today. I saw a man who's refused to eat for two weeks so that we've had to use a feeding tube l ight up and dig into that chocolate cake. In many ways, this was better therapy for them all than we can give them." It definitely seemed to perk my mother up, and I made friends and introduced them to her. She's not the type to make friends, I don't know where I got my friendly side....my grandfather maybe, he was a likeable fellow.

It was bittersweet, I was reminded of the shows I used to volunteer to do at nursing homes and veteran's hospitals. I was so full of cheer for them, but I wound up crying later every single time because of the things I'd seen. At least I didn't cry today, it seemed to pick me up as much as them.