New York City Memories
New Yorkers walk fast and I was on the move to get to Penn Station. I was jostling my suitcase as I weaved in and out of the crowd. I felt it bump and jump as I tugged at the handle looking straight ahead. I meant business. I wanted to catch the LIRR home. It had been a long week in the hot city and I was ready for this city adventure to be over.”Excuse me, you dropped your bracelet.” A soft mellow voice barely audible over the noise and commotion of the crowd. I spun around and a lady who looked like she was dressed in a Nurses’ Aide uniform stood resolute pointing down to the scuffed floor. There, in a little golden heap of x’s and o’s was Nanny’s bracelet.
It was as if everything stopped for a moment as I bent down to pick it up, “Thank you, I can’t tell you what this bracelet means to me it was my Nanny’s, I can’t thank you enough.” Shaking my head looking down at the bracelet, feeling a rising warmth for this extraordinary kindness, I reached in and hugged a stranger in the subway.
What does it mean to be kind?
I was wearing this bracelet today when this picture book, Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller / Jen Hill arrived today in the mail. The book poses the question, What does it mean to be kind? It muses the complexities of kindness and the dream for a better world. Imagine if we all made kindness a habit of mind – how would that shape this journey? Research says we would be happier and more successful too. If you want to read more about it, check out: 5 Researched-Based Reasons to be Kind.
Getting to Goal 