We tend to be a snarky bunch here at KNN. We see a lot of bad news about a lot of if-not-bad-then-silly,-thoughtless,-or-avaricious people. And it wears on us. Frankly, all that grinding can cause sharp edges on anyone's psyche (and teeth).
Still, all too infrequently, we do find ourselves treated to our favorite part of human nature: kindness. A church in our region went out into the community on October 30th offering to do, well, whatever needed doing. It sounded like it was too good to be true and, shrugging, we assumed it was.
We were completely and pleasantly wrong. Those, like us, who availed themselves of the service found themselves treated to a crowd of people ranging in age from the very young to people of retirement age, doing whatever needed to be done, from lawn work to minor plumbing. For us, it was days worth of work done in just a few hours. They asked for no payment or any sort of recompense. It was amazing.
But the thing that rendered us speechless was the response from young and old when we tried to thank them for all their hard work. To a person, they thanked us for the opportunity to serve. Every one.
As referred to above, we are a snarky bunch here, but we are not so far gone that kindness and extraordinary effort of that sort fails to effect us. We dare not give the name of the church no matter how rightly they deserve their acknowledgement; kindness is the sort of thing that gets abused easily, and the people who practice it don't always count the costs they should, because it isn't in their nature to do so.
To be sure, though, there was one overwhelmed couple who so very appreciated what was done for us that it's hard to express. So we close with this: thank you, and through your generosity, we are reminded that the true benefit of kindness is not what was done for you, but that you will take up the practice of it elsewhere. And we will.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
What We Kept From the Last Three Months With No Posts
Good grief! Will someone please grasp this year, as it is behaving like a two-year-old on a caffeine and sugar fueled tantrum, hold the blasted thing down, and staple it to the floor? We much prefer our years to be gentler and quieter and we won't stand for this any more. How can anyone hear us complain over all this ruckus?
So, some short posts so that we may clear our mental palates and physical notebooks:
Why didn't Wile E. Coyote just go buy a hot dog?
Many newspapers reported in July that the wealth gap was widening due to the recession. Excuse me, Fourth Estate? If ever there was an example of knews, this is it.
Justice without her blindfold is greed.
The IBM Selectric typewriter turned 50 in late July. Who cares, you ask? Why, we do, of course. We miss the one we used to use. There was something reassuringly mechanical about striking the keys, not like the anemic tap of a computer keyboard. Although you can buy a keyboard with that sound to it, it's not the same, and we miss it. Its example reminds us that it was a machine, designed to do a thing, and that was all it meant. It was not a status symbol or a means of ignoring our fellow human beings or a success marker. It was a tool that meant less than the work done with it and rightly so.
(And, while we're at it, we understand completely that the iPod changed the world of entertainment. We also understand that it allows us to be served exclusively by our own desired music and video. Did we really need a device that allows us to communicate less, and thereby know each other less? Did we really need help with that?)
Being blind does not keep justice from also being vain. (Evidently justice was on our minds a bit the past three months.)
When prayer is the final realistic hope, society has failed.
Overheard at our day job: when we run away from danger, we protect our internal organs. Yes. Quite.
Finally, read this article about Ford workers essentially becoming migrant workers. Now, go get your copy of "The Grapes of Wrath" and re-read it.
We'll be back on schedule soon. Thanks for reading!
So, some short posts so that we may clear our mental palates and physical notebooks:
Why didn't Wile E. Coyote just go buy a hot dog?
Many newspapers reported in July that the wealth gap was widening due to the recession. Excuse me, Fourth Estate? If ever there was an example of knews, this is it.
Justice without her blindfold is greed.
The IBM Selectric typewriter turned 50 in late July. Who cares, you ask? Why, we do, of course. We miss the one we used to use. There was something reassuringly mechanical about striking the keys, not like the anemic tap of a computer keyboard. Although you can buy a keyboard with that sound to it, it's not the same, and we miss it. Its example reminds us that it was a machine, designed to do a thing, and that was all it meant. It was not a status symbol or a means of ignoring our fellow human beings or a success marker. It was a tool that meant less than the work done with it and rightly so.
(And, while we're at it, we understand completely that the iPod changed the world of entertainment. We also understand that it allows us to be served exclusively by our own desired music and video. Did we really need a device that allows us to communicate less, and thereby know each other less? Did we really need help with that?)
Being blind does not keep justice from also being vain. (Evidently justice was on our minds a bit the past three months.)
When prayer is the final realistic hope, society has failed.
Overheard at our day job: when we run away from danger, we protect our internal organs. Yes. Quite.
Finally, read this article about Ford workers essentially becoming migrant workers. Now, go get your copy of "The Grapes of Wrath" and re-read it.
We'll be back on schedule soon. Thanks for reading!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)