The Kindness Of Strangers

Why does it have to get dark so early? This evening I had a late-starting deposition (my second of the day) because the deponent was a physician who would not agree to be deposed until after office hours, which apparently conclude at six. It was nearly dark when I left home (and also very cold), and it was completely dark by the time I got to the street where the doctor's office supposedly was, securely embedded in a warren of streets behind Lexington Medical Center. The building is very small and set back from the curb behind some trees, and there is a sign but it is unlit! I couldn't find it and I was going to be late. I ran into a bigger office building where two very nice ladies offered to call the doctor's office for me (I had run out of the house without my cell phone ... something I do about once every three months). We reached the doctor's office and a man answered. He asked me several questions regarding my whereabouts and then said: "Stay right where you are. I'm coming outside." Then he hung up. I held the dead phone in my hand, completely flummoxed. It seems when it goes dark so early outside, my brain goes dark too.

I may be extremely literal, but I didn't think it was a good idea to literally stay right where I was (behind a reception desk in an office building about to close for the night). So I thanked the nice ladies profusely (they truly were darlings) and went back out into the dark, to my car. Instead of turning right out of the parking lot, however (I had already investigated that stretch of road ... twice), I turned left. Immediately I saw him -- the man who had told me to stay where I was -- standing in the driveway of my destination, not fifty yards away! The address I had been looking for had been there all along; I had driven past it at least three times. I felt so silly but the nice man put me at ease. "It's really dark out here," he pointed out. "And we're hard to find." Indeed, one of the two lawyers also had trouble finding the office, making us late getting started. I was gratified; after all, misery still loves company.

Much later, on the way home, I stopped at the store for a few groceries. I'd had a long day and I was tired. I had finished up and was nearly to the big doors that open all by themselves, leading to the parking lot, when through the muzziness that was my brain I sensed that someone behind me was trying to get my attention. "Ma'am? Ma'am?" was what it sounded like. I turned around, and there was a very pretty young lady holding something out to me. "Is this yours?" she asked, smiling. It took a few moments for my eyes to focus on the wallet one of my daughters gave me for Christmas last year. I was appalled ... I had left it on the ledge where I had paid for my purchases! "Uhm ... yes! Thank you!" I said, and she smiled real big and walked away. What a sweetheart. She saved me a whole lot of trouble.

Homeward bound at last with both my groceries and my wallet, checking to make sure my head was still on my shoulders, I mused that in a world where there is so much cold and so much darkness and so much confusion ... so many who have lost their way ... I need the help of a lot of people to get me through the day. Like poor Blanche DuBois, I need every smile I can get, and every little bit of reassurance anyone can spare. I need every kind voice available, saying "Stay right where you are; I'm coming outside." I need the Lord to give His angels charge over me, lest I dash my foot against a stone. And to even things out, I need to be looking out for everyone else too, and trying to shed some light on their path. Because if we're not careful we'll all get lost in the darkness ... and it's cold out there.

Comments

[Deppfest]

I've always loved that passage about 'doing unto others'. Most people in this world are lovely, obliging and helpful which we forget about because the media is so focussed on the bad in our society. Doing good is like a chain letter - receive help and then pass it on to the next person that needs it who in turn will also pass it on.

BTW, I don't suppose that nice lady in the store found your brain at the same time, did she?!

[Jennifer]

Girl, if she found it I hope she forwards it on. Weak signal though it may emit, it's all I've got! LOL! I hope I get to return at least some of the favors that are done for me.