The Significance Of Little Acts Of Kindness

I woke this morning, read my emails and lost it.

What made this morning different eludes me.   I am usually able to hold it together.  I can usually look at things with compassion and often empathy without bringing myself to tears with the ability to distance myself from the gravity of it all.

As I said, today was different.  As I sat with my glass of iced green tea with a sprig of mint (ok the jig is up, I do not drink coffee) I started reading my emails.  The writings from parents in such pain for their emotionally or physically disabled children were so heartfelt.  Their frustrations and fears came pouring through.  I remembered the pain, the confusion and the feeling of hopelessness of when my child first became ill.   I felt powerless and overwhelmed by the enormity of their situations feeling any contribution I could offer would be insignificant.

These parents ask nothing of me.  They come to me knowing that I am here to listen, encourage and support them.  They know that if I can find a resource to make their lives and the lives of their children easier, I will move mountains.  They know that I have walked in their shoes and can understand their need to vent and explore every possible option.  They know I "get it" and for them that is enough.  For me, today, it felt as if it was not.

The day continued along as usual working on The Coffee Klatch, playing taxi for my children and having a sanity break lunching with friends.   Yet still, this feeling clung to me. What difference does anything I do make in the reality of these situations?  What can I give these parents to ease some of their pain?

And then it happened.

As the day unfolded it became clear to me the significance of the littlest things, the little acts of kindness, the power of social media and the click of a button.  Let's start with a little angel that crossed my path.  Abbie.  Abbie is little girl with Down Syndrome and Leukemia.  She is beautiful, she will turn eight on June 11th.   A post on our Facebook wall from her mother led me to ask our followers to send her a message of support and hope. You see, Abbie loves to get cards and posts on her Facebook page, it makes her smile. I was so touched by this little girl that I posted it on my private page as well.  When I returned home today and checked my social media sites - there it was.  Followers of The Coffee Klatch sending Abbie their well wishes.  Cousins, friends of cousins, long lost high school acquaintances, PTA moms and my own children and their friends took a minute out of their day to make a little girl smile. You can make this little girl smile too http://www.facebook.com/pages/Abbie-vs-Leukemia/134583173275636

Elise, a host on the show and a friend to me, posted a tweet about a 15 year old girl, Alice.  Alice is terminally ill with cancer and had made a bucket list.  One of her wishes was to trend on Twitter.  No easy task,  we could not even get #Autism trending on Autism awareness day. I retweeted the post and moved on.

With all the stigma, bias and cruelty in the world sometimes we forget to look at the kindness.  The basic goodness in people is underestimated and often overshadowed by the bad.  The little acts of kindness that touch other people.  The click of a button that puts a smile on a sick child's face.  Those are the things that make a difference in this world.

As I sit on my deck pondering this day I see how it unfolded just as it should, Abbie has posts and messages of love along with a special little birthday gift on the way.

#AliceBucketList is trending on Twitter.  The twitterverse, as it always does, showed what it's all about.

Sometimes it is not the moving of mountains that have the greatest impact on others but the little acts of kindness.