Good Morning Andrew
LOTR is one of my favourite! Love the story, the scenes, and the music is superb.
Kindness and compassion is a tough one to spot I think because it's so easy to fake.
You’ve mentioned this many times over the years. I seem to see through disingenuous behaviour and words more easily.
How people treat people is a pretty good indicator. And not just at restaurants. Kindness is not measured by the amount of your tip or the coin in the collection plate. One does not buy a kind soul.
I recall coming home with my still pretty new car. Not even gravel or dirt on the floor mats yet. Lol.
Anyhow, a group of kind folks were standing gathered around a person on the sidewalk in town. This group of folks were all looking and standing. I did a u-turn, stopped, and got out.
The guy was the town drunk. He had fallen off the sidewalk and into the bushes. He was cut and bleeding. The bottle he was hiding within his coat sleeve had broken and the booze had wetted down his arm and side. He leashed dog was still tugging on him, and he was thoroughly tangled within the brambles of the hedge.
I went straight to him. Remove the dog’s leash from his hand/wrist and handed it over to the only one of the peanut gallery that offered to help me. Notice, help me, not help him. The gal took the dog while I got the poor guy out of the hedge. I cleaned him up as best I could. Had the gal walk his dog to his house and told her to wait and I’d return to look after it.
I poured this less than coordinated guy into my car. Secured the seat belt and drove him to the hospital. Ha, he was one of my very first passengers.
The gaggle of kind folks dispersed.
After dropping him off and updating the nurse with what I knew, I went back to his house. I took the dog from the gal, let myself in to his house, and let the dog of his leash in the porch. There was food and water there.
Interestingly, and sorry apparently you’ve inspired me to story tell, I recently had a run in with this guy.
He walks his dog down the road in front of my property. He walks down the incorrect side of the road, with traffic instead of facing traffic. He keeps his dog on its leash until he reaches my property edge. At this point he lets his dog off leash and it ambled around and into my bushes and property and deposits it’s gifts. Once he has walked past my property frontage, he and dog them move across the road to the proper side, facing traffic, continuing to the mile road and then down that gravel road.
I asked him to clean up after his dog. Or let him off leash after my property - it is farm land after that. I maintain and mow my ditch, the ditches past me are not.
Well goodness me. No way! He blew up! He threaten to call the cops. Said I was harassing him. And on and on. I remained calm. He was quite upset.
I assured him all I was doing was asking him to please clean up after his dog or let him off leash 500 feet later. Ah, irrational folks. He went ballistic. Told me his doesn’t have to talk to me. I assured him he is correct and he doesn’t have to talk with me. All I’m doing is talking to you. It’s completely up to you if you respond.
He had some difficultly speaking and walking. For the ten minute conversation he stood in place. Never moved. Just angry and argumentative. When I pointed out this fact, that he hadn’t moved and was indeed talking to me, it was something to see. Reality slams into the irrational perception abruptly.
“I should just walk on the other f-ing side of the road. Those people don’t have a f-ing problem with me or my dog.”
(Bingo. Negotiating with irrational people, it has to feel like it is their idea.)
You are free to do so. I do not control you, nor tell you where to walk. I’m only asking you clean up after your dog.
I’ve not seen him walk by on my side since. And lately he seems to have found a different route for his walks.
Methinks, he doesn’t know it was I who hauled him out of those bushes and let him bleed in my car. Lol.
Good thing kindness is it’s own reward.
Oh, and kindness ain’t being a doormat either.
…it's trying to identify those things that are indeed deal-breakers before I get too emotionally attached.
Some things only get revealed or discovered once we get emotionally involved. Once we get further along passed infatuation. Hence, dating for a while.
Huge deal-breakers are pretty evident. The lesser extreme and still valid deal-breakers are harder to uncover “before”.
We must risk ourselves. One cannot discover all deal-breakers before
any attachment or risk of hurt. That’s how life is. Be well healed, strong and stable, and live it. That holds true for much more than dating I suppose.
You haven’t had an angina attack for quite a while. Well, one you’ve shared here.
I also live alone. I understand that worrisome feeling. I consider how long would it take to be discovered if I fell down the stairs. Post pending retirement, quite some time. Likely weeks.
We must risk ourselves to live.
Still, might have to invest in some manner of self alerting gizmo. Even though I’n not that old.
I have a aunt who is now 96. A few years ago she fell while walking down the back lane in winter and broke her leg. Luckily, and truly luckily, she was discovered laying there in the snowy lane. It was -20C or so. Just an easy stroll to the store. Had she not been discovered she’d have froze. At 94 she could not drag herself to get help.
At 53, I’m pretty sure I could drag my self up the stairs. Or is that just male ego and denial. Lol.
Hmmm. Maybe I need a phone on each level of the house. Oh, now bargaining. The last attempt at holding on to what was.
Sigh, fine. Get the stupid life line gizmo. Haha. Acceptance.
Have a great day my friend.
D