Acts
of Service
“There
is no such thing as a simple act of compassion or an inconsequential act of
service. Everything we do for another person has infinite consequences.”
Caroline
Myss
This
may sound silly, but I really appreciate it when someone gives me their
shopping cart at Aldi, so that I don’t have to use my quarter to get one. I
know—you get it back when you finish shopping, but it is still an act of
service in my opinion. It says, quite simply, I see you; I acknowledge your existence,
and I am happy to share with you. That speaks to me because, as an older person
in our society, I am accustomed to being invisible to others.
I am not
condemning anyone. I am certain I did the same thing when I was a young person.
Our culture does not “believe in” old age, and we do everything in our power to
avoid it and still stay alive. It’s built into our cultural psyche that at a
certain age, especially past retirement, people no longer contribute to society.
We’re a drain on the economy and we drive too slowly. Here are some facts reported
in the New England Journal of Medicine just last October (2021): Older people shop,
use services, and pay taxes, and we reach the top of our productive potential between
60 and 70. The second most productive age is between 70 and 80, and the 3rd
most productive is between 50-60. The average age of Nobel Prize recipients is
62. This is thought to be because, once mates are selected and children reared,
there is more time to focus on one’s own work and life. And beyond that, our
personalities finally come together to form something other than a mishmash of neuroses.
I don’t know about you, but I was a basket case in my 30’s and 40’s.
Acts of
kindness, just like offering someone your shopping cart at Aldi, have a ripple
effect. If I have been given a cart, I am more likely to hand it off to the
next person, and they to someone else. If someone is kind to me, I am in a
better mood and am more likely to be kind to others. Kindness is like a big
fish jumping out of the water to catch a bug—the rings of waves it makes when
it splashes down keep going and going.
Simple
acts of compassion are little things we can do every day that have the potential
to impact the wider world. We don’t have to be Mother Teresa—there has only
been one of her—but one small act of kindness can ripple out to enough others
to make life better for all of us.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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