kindness matters 148/366

I am convinced,
when you are the recipient, 
there is no such thing as a small kindness

 

I have been struggling with the news of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. A video showing the last part of his arrest is at the end of this post. It makes me sick to my stomach. It makes me angry. It grieves me. If any one of the four police officers involved had shown even a smidgen of kindness after he was cuffed and on the ground, Mr. Floyd's life may have been spared. I am no medical expert, but when someone is yelling "I can't breathe" and a grown man is kneeling with a knee across their neck, an educated guess says removing the knee would be the first thing to do. Since the medical report is not in yet we don't know if it would have saved Mr. Floyd's life or not. What we do know is it wouldn't be damning the officer the way his keeping that position is.

kindness always makes a difference
yesterday I noticed a small pile of sawdust under the bench on my driveway porch
I tipped the bench and investigated
eventually I found a small hole bored into part of the back
I didn't see anything else so I lowered the bench and swept up the dust
today I saw a new pile of sawdust 
that indicated I had a problem
I suspected carpenter bees
but didn't have a clue how to confirm that hunch nor how to get rid of them

this afternoon I saw my neighbor in his drive,
he was preparing to head out on a job
I hate to ask for help
but I knew he would be the perfect one to ask
so I swallowed my pride and my nerves
and when he looked up I asked
"Can I get a dollars worth of advice?"
He chuckled and said "I don't know if it's worth that"
"I think I have a carpenter bee"
"I'll be there in a minute"
he finished what he was doing,
grabbed something from the front seat of his truck
and walked over to where I was standing

I showed him the sawdust and flipped the bench to show him the hole
"Yep, that's what it is"
I quickly realized he had come prepared to do battle
he inserted the tube from the metal container in his hand into the hole and pumped 
he stood for a moment, listening, and heard something I didn't 
he gave the hole a second treatment
I told him to send me a bill and he shrugged it off
I'm pretty certain that isn't going to happen
I went out to sweep the porch and found a large bee on it's back going in circles

What happened at my house today will keep me, my family and friends from being concerned about getting stung. Not a huge deal, except for the one or two who are highly allergic to stings. For them it has the potential to be a life saving kindness.

Don't miss this:

Kindness can save lives.

Please, people, practice being kind.

Warning, this video is disturbing-

or at least it should be.

If it doesn't bother you, please, unfriend/unfollow me.

“ Being black in America should not be a death sentence," *Frey said. "When you hear someone calling for help, you are supposed to help, and this officer failed in the most basic human sense." *Jacob Frey is the Mayor of Minneapolis