It was 9:30am on Monday morning when the doorbell rang. I opened it to my neighbour carrying an old tin basin filled with freshly picked green beans. He asked me if I knew how to cook them. He then invited me to take what I wanted.
A simple gesture that conveyed so much. He trusted me to gather only what I needed and so share in the bounties of the land that surround us in this small village. I do not take more than I need nor do I enter into a pretence of good manners by refusing and so risk offence; I had just bought my stock of fresh food during the weekend. We do not share a common home language or cultural past so the stakes are high in each interchange. However, there was nothing hidden in the offer. It was a simple gesture that many, who live in the urban world of closed doors and walled gardens, do not experience.
Each successive day this week, I have been able to partake of small pickings from the farmer’s garden; courgettes, onions, beetroot, sunflowers and the first green beans. By offering and my accepting, my neighbour has opened the door to gifts that beg nothing in return. I, on the other hand, have had to make a decision. How much do I take so as not to seem greedy but at the same time, show my gratitude? It has made me think about my own needs as one living in a single household. However, unexpected gifts like these bring us together as we stand framed by the door.
When I take a backward look at this last week of August, I can recognise a multitude of other kind acts; a phone call from my daughter, a text message from a friend, an invitation to drink tea together with a former boss, a gift from a holiday in Brittany, a soothing massage after a session with the kinesiologist, a book by Tsitsi Dangarembga, a smile from a cashier at the checkout desk, the sunrise across the forests, a rainbow that frames my window – endless acts of kindness in just 7 days from the human and non-human world. Sometimes, a simple act of kindness changes one forever.
I invite you to indulge in the process of memorising. Think back into the spaces and places you have lived in and bring to the present that act of kindness that truly made a difference in your life. Some of them may be dramatic, others more mundane but hopefully, with one memory, there was a shift that took place that marks the before and the after. The motivation is often simple but the impact may be complex and long-lasting.
As usual, I invite you to another act of kindness. Click on the link below to my Luxembourg to Mpaka Challenge. You too can make a life-changing difference to life of another.
Patricia Angoy 
Living in South Africa, you constantly encounter the need to extend an act of kindness at every moment of your day. From the beggar at the traffic light, to the taxi driver who threatens to cut in front of you, to the Mama who is trying to cross the street in busy traffic, the cashier who has had a difficult day, the petrol attendant, traffic cop (mmm!), parking attendant etc. etc. Send each act of kindness with a blessing to the person receiving it so that it manifests in abundance.
LikeLike
Thank you, Sibongile, for these small acts of kindness can make the difference to others.
LikeLike