I walked into the café I frequent daily, greeted the owner and her girlfriend as always, and made an attempt to hide the way I was feeling; I did a miserable job it seems, despite my best efforts.
The owner said hello and immediately asked, are you ok G?
Of course I lied and said I'm fine, couldn't be better if I tried.
They took it on face value, took my coffee order and I went to sit down and work on my laptop a little as always.
When my coffee arrived it was accompanied by this plate below, the melting moment cookie and that hand-written note.
"To be the best you must be able to handle the worst."
The owner said, I can see it in your eyes G, something's wrong. Have a cookie on us and let it go for a moment. She smiled and went back inside.
What she doesn't know is that the old G-dog has some possible health issues. I'm not ready to talk about it yet, but it's on my mind and I know that however hard I try to hide it those that look closely enough, those who choose to see, will read it on me as plain as day.
As I ate my cookie and sipped coffee I pondered the way they made me feel which gave me a welcome respite to worrying about how I actually feel.
I felt valued and important...It wasn't the cookie, not even the phrase hand-written on the serviette; A phrase I like a lot actually...But no, it was the fact they chose to do it; It was that they took a moment out of their busy lives to show someone some love and caring, that that person was valued and that they cared enough to make this small gesture.
It's quite humbling.
This is not the first time these girls have done this - I've written about it before; They have an uncanny way of knowing exactly when to show a small gesture of caring and kindness...Or maybe they do it all the time.
I wonder what a world full of people like this would be like to live in; What if each and every person performed a simple act of kindness like this every day?
What if people said I appreciate you or I care about you and your problems more often - Those phrases carry so much value if delivered genuinely.
But the world isn't like that, and won't be like that, unless we choose to make it so.
We can you know...We wield immense power, humans I mean. We can destroy, trust me I've done it, but we can design and create too; We can shape the world in the image we want it to take...It all starts with some effort, humility and a small act of kindness...It's like throwing pebbles in a pond...The ripples spread ever outwards eventually, it just takes someone to toss a pebble.
What's this post about? What am I saying?
I'm not sure...Maybe I'm thinking out loud about the virtues of living a humble and kind life...Maybe I'm just reminding myself that there's still some good in the world, good people or maybe I'm simply occupying my mind with this to push other things out. I don't know...But if it inspires someone to inspire someone else, to throw some pebbles, that can't be a bad thing right?
Throw some pebbles today folks; That is, make someone's day with an act of kindness, it's within your power to empower others and to make some ripples.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised.
Be well
Discord: galenkp#9209