Yesterday evening three small children appeared at my gate. A brother and two sisters with a 'katondo' of little plastic things in a larger plastic bag. The littlest was maybe 4 or 5 years. I started with the usual, who are you, names, where have you come from, where is your mother, father etc in my underused Shona with a Scottish accent. I got some information. They were still three small hungry barefoot children, with a mother somewhere out of work knowing or not that her children were looking for food door to door. I sighed.
Then I took off my 'need to know everything hat', and put down my 'get it right, don't make a mistake stick' that I regularly beat myself with ( I have been conned in the street, supermarkets and traffic lights by urbanites savvier than me...). 'Gullable is not in the dictionary' my Mum would say to me with a smile as my forehead wrinkled bringing my eyebrows closer together.
So maybe their mum was drunk, they were cheeky, the dad was lazy and they lived in a house with a roof and running water. Could I be sure?
Today I discover it is pay it forward day. Instead of just REACTING with kindness, why not be PROACTIVE with kindness. What a lesson for me to learn.
Check this out. I would like to add a number 11: Pay a library subscription for a child you know.
Help Others.org: Celebrate Pay It Forward Day, April 26th -- A Kindness Story
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