Letter: What gives me hope
I am a 70-year-old carpenter who now finds himself in need of some help from a doctor to keep me able to continue to walk and such.
The other day, when I was double-caning my way to a doctor’s appointment, I passed a man standing at the top of a side-by-side pair of stairs leading down to the doctor’s office, who kindly stepped aside to allow me to pass. As I proceeded to slowly wend my way down the left-hand set of stairs, I noticed the gentleman whom I had passed proceeding quickly down the right-hand set of stairs and I thought to myself, “Hmm … he must be going to the same office that I am.”
However, when I reached the bottom of the set of stairs that I was descending, I looked over at the doorway that I was headed toward and saw the gentleman that I just referred to holding the door to the office I was headed into, open for me. He stood there patiently holding that door open for me, even though it took what seemed to me to be a fair amount of time for me to get there. He just stood there smiling until I reached the doorway and, feeling a little embarrassed, looked up from the cement walkway that I was focused on not placing my face next to, smiled and said “Thank you so much,” and then walked through the door that he let close gently behind me.
He did not follow me into the doctor’s office.
That small act (huge, to me, at the time) of kindness and generosity speaks volumes about the character of that gentleman. As I see that kind of behavior expressed by so many people that I see or come in contact with, it makes me feel so hopeful about our future together, even though there is so much news in the world that is not so promising.
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That kindness toward one another that was exemplified toward me is the bedrock of the functionality of our society, and I see it every day, in so many ways and in so many places.
I just want to say “thank you” to all of the courageous people who choose to act kindly and respectfully toward one another in this world and in this place we call home.
What you do is priceless.
Arlan Moore
McCoy
