Every day I'm at the train station, waiting for my train to take me to the city, I hear them. A mother drives a car full of girls by the north side of the tracks, the side headed for Chicago, not Elburn, and they shout out the windows. They tell us all: "Have a good day! Have a good day! Have a good day!" They do this down the whole station so every commuter can hear them.
Is this something they decided to do for themselves? Or did their mother decide to teach them the value of helping others? I don't know. I lean toward the former. They sound so sincere when they do it. Every morning it's like the first time. It seems new to them every time.
I'm a fucking Grinch, but the sheer genuine feeling they give off makes even me smile. I'm my most miserable at that moment, and the fact that not just one person, but a group of people, decided to offer a daily good deed is pretty heartwarming. One of the homeless guys on the river makes me feel the same way. Whenever he's there he's got a lot of encouraging things to say to everyone. Some of it is preachy God shit, but his intentions are pure. I kind of like that he's there with a kind word. Maybe it's just for the money he gets out of it, but it's nice that he offers it for free. The dough is optional.
I can't stress it enough. Do a good deed every day. It doesn't have to be the same good deed every day, but do something. Coming from me it's selfish. I get a dopamine rush out of it. You probably will, too. But there's no harm in it so long as you're helping someone else. That's the important thing.
In the words of two of my favorite philosophers:
I do the same whenever I can. There's something about doing a good thing for someone who can't afford to do it for themselves. Even a smile when you meet someone's eyes might be the only one they get all day and it's free. I lost my ex-husband's mother on Sept. 9th and it has left a big black hole. I was close to her for 25yrs. Her sister's family is very poor and they now have her dog. I visited them today and killed over 20 fleas that were on that dog. When I left I went to the pet store and bought liquid flea medication for the dog. When I came back, they were reluctant to accept it because they couldn’t pay me for it. They did not buy a dog they couldn't take care of, they took him as a merciful act for a deceased sister. I didn’t say this to get accolades, there are dozens of things I could have put here, this just happened to be what I did today. We do not give our money to a fucking church so they can do "God's work" by putting in a $1,000,000 dollar audio/video system for their praise & worship team. That is complete bullshit. My husband works hard for what he makes and sometimes he installs $1,000,000 A/V systems for fucking churches and it sort of feels like blood money. People need groceries and roofs on their houses but I have to tone down because it pays our bills. It can be a gofundme or a close friend who needs food, that’s what we’re here for. Whether it's to meet a financial need or just to mail one of my author friends a book they've never read, WE are doing good work. Keep making a difference and it will make a difference. Good on you John Bruni, you are a good soul. Alicia Stamps XXOO
ReplyDeleteThank you. I'm glad you agree with me. We can make the world a better place just by doing good deeds. My good deed today was giving a friend, who I had just met in person for the first time (we knew each other online), one of my books and three magazines I edited back in the day. He was having a lousy day, and it seemed to be getting worse every minute. I hope he's feeling better.
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