A few years back, I remember a bumper sticker campaign that urged me to practice “random acts of kindness.” I think the idea was that, by a lot of us doing so, we might collectively achieve something big – like world peace.
The campaign for random acts of kindness, kind of fizzled. I can guess why: it required creativity and initiative, kindness is a stretch for most of us, and probably (speaking as an ex-advertising person) it suffered from inadequate reach and frequency.
Just recently I’ve begun a new and very personal campaign. I have not planned it. I’d rather not name it at all, but for the purposes of a headline – I have. For want of a better name, let’s call it “impulsive acts of grace.” Unplanned, strongly-prompted, non-merit based showings of odd and unsolicited favor. (See, “impulsive acts of grace” works better.)
Early in the week, my corner of the Texas map experienced a jumbled mix of violent weather that the local paper called “a freakish storm.” It lasted only a few hours but before it relented, the storm wreaked havoc with torrential rains, tornadoes and massive traffic jams caused by flash flooding.
The morning after the storm brought the bluest sky in months, and the kind of crisp, cool air that so far, had been missing from November. Monday I couldn’t see ten feet in front of my face. Tuesday dawned with beauty as far as I could see. But it wasn’t the typical, still beauty of the calm after the storm.
I don’t have a child – I have a Chin. An almost-five-year-old, sixteen pound Japanese Chin named Chester. For the uninitiated, a Japanese Chin is a toy spaniel bred to be a lap warmer. His only mission in life is to drape himself over me and prevent me from standing.
Like a child, Chester misbehaves when I am on the phone, and cries to be held when I am busiest. And he can empty my purse quicker than you can say “chew toy.”
He’s not a complex animal. His needs are basic and his preferences obvious. There is not much that is subtle about Chester – including his determined foraging for lipstick and pencils. He likes to devour them both – frequently.