By Sarah Ban Breathnach
Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.
-BLANCHE DUBOIS (TENNESSEE WILLIAMS)
In the Bible, the angels who intervened in the lives of humans were most
often strangers who appeared on the scene just once, gave assistance, and then disappeared as mysteriously as they arrived.
From all the published firsthand accounts, the standard angelic operating procedure hasn't changed in five thousand years.
From this day forward, start becoming consciously aware of your encounters with strangers. Look for them. Smile. Make eye contact. Strike up a conversation. You never know. Even if it's not an angelic encounter, it might be a celestine moment.
Several years ago I was in New York hostessing a week of Victorian lectures at Macy's. One day I was riding in a freight elevator. Not thinking I was doing anything extraordinary, I held the automatic door open for two employees with their arms full, asked what floor they wanted, and made chitchat. "You must not be a New Yorker," one commented. I told them I wasn't, and they broke into laughs. "Knew it.
No New Yorker would be this friendly or helpful." Later that day as I was leaving, I was really struggling with two boxes of props and a costume bag when I ran into one of my new acquiantances. Not only did he offer to carry my boxes; he walked out to the street and waited with me until he hailed a cab, sending me on my way with a smile.
Never turn down a stranger's offer of help, unless you're alone in a dark, secluded place, where you shouldn't be in the first place. Life is hard for many women. But gradually, I'm becoming aware that it's really not as hard as we make it. One of the reasons real life is difficult is that we don't ask for assistance-from family, friends, co-workers, strangers. We feel uncomfortable, as if asking for help is confirmation that we're completely inept or spongers.
Stop the rather self-centered assumption that a little help is too much to ask for. Because we become a burden only when we're overwhelmed by our own hubris and have to rely on others to bear our load as well as their own.
Be kind to strangers. Let strangers be kind to you.
Think of it as a positive exchange of comfort and compassion in the circle of life.
Remember, as St. Paul reminds us, "Some have entertained angels unaware." And some of us have encountered them without knowing, sending them away before receiving their blessing.
Source: Simple Abundance - A Daybook of Comfort & Joy
