Success Card #7

It shall be done -- sometime,
somewhere -- so, why not by you?
~Ophelia Guyon Browning

Indeed! Why not by me? We, all of us, I think, are often busy wondering when someone will do something about the state of our union, the state of world affairs, the state of poverty in the world, the state of hunger. Why can't we be that someone?

Okay, so maybe we have a busy life and it's all we can do to get by. Is there nothing at all we can do to make a difference to someone else? Even if it is just to pass on a smile?

In the first couple weeks after my mom passed away, I was busy quarreling with my siblings and working on cleaning my mother's house, when I had to lead a caravan, consisting of my brother driving a rented U-Haul truck and my nephew, to my home. Before I exited the park where my mother's home was, I saw a young woman walking along the shoulder carrying a large plastic red can. She was obviously after some gas. She also looked like she was having a bad day. I'm not prone to picking up strangers, but something about this poor girl spoke to me.

In spite of my role as lead, I stopped for this young woman. I offered her a ride to the end of the street, which was only about a quarter of a mile away. She thanked me and got in, with her gas can on her lap. I looked at her and her bottom lip just quivered and her eyes welled up with tears. I asked her her name. I think she said, "Tammy." I told her that whatever it was, it would get better, that things always work out. I told her that my mom had just died and I was fighting with my siblings, but it would all be okay in the end. So, too, would it be for her.

I think that my small gesture of kindness made a difference to her that day. I told her the way to repay me, was to one day do the same for someone else some day--a kind of "paying it forward."

I dropped this girl off at the end of the street, since I needed to make a turn and she claimed she didn't have much further to go. As she exited the car with gas can in hand, she wiped her tears, gave me her condolences, thanked me, and then offered some encouragement of her own. I'm hoping my words stuck with her. "Whatever it is, it will be okay."

I do NOT condone picking up strangers. But sometimes, somewhere, it's going to be done. Why NOT by you?