| |
January 2008
Random Acts
Dear Friends,
With recent events not far from home fresh in our minds, the term "random acts of violence" roll around in our minds. I wouldn’t say that fear is necessarily in the forefront of everyone’s thoughts, but it is more like a dull pain, a haunting, unthinkable thorn in the back of our brains.
As violent and horrid as our world seems to be, and as these tragic and violent acts seem to come along with increasing rapidity, around here we still need to remember the "bread and butter" of small town life. We feel pretty safe most of the time, and for the most part, the folks around us are more prone to "random acts of kindness", than anything else.
My family was a "victim" of one of those "random acts of kindness" just last weekend. We had loaded up the family mini-van with belated Christmas gifts and luggage for a two-day visit to my wife’s mother’s house in Oakland, for Christmas celebrations with Donna’s family.
Saturday morning, chores went well and we got the kids and supplies loaded in record time. We were on the road to grandmother’s house, and all was well, so we thought.
As we crossed Highway 81 and traveled east toward Hartington, the warm bodies and hot air floating around in the cabin began to fog up, and eventually frost up the windshield of our van. The vent was working, but the defrost wasn’t. By the time we drove into Hartington, it was quite apparent to Donna and I that we wouldn’t be able to continue, because we just couldn’t see.
We drove into Jerry’s Service and fortunately, Jerry got us inside the shop and the folks there looked things over. We didn’t even have to unload the kids. I’m sure Jerry sensed the despair in our faces. If we couldn’t get the defrost to work, we didn’t have another vehicle at home that would haul us all to Oakland. We’d have to skip the trip until the following week when we could get the van fixed.
They worked diligently to get the defrost going again in record speed, so within just a short time, we were on the road again, heading south for grandma’s house.
I know Jerry was just doing his job, something he’s been doing for years. But I can’t tell you how much we appreciated having this malfunction in a place where business owners truly care about their customers.
It is too easy to complain about local merchants, local services and local laborers. We complain about their office hours or little details that are really insignificant. We forget that local merchants, service business owners and laborers have spouses and families of their own. We forget that they too, have lives of their own. Yet, we often expect them to be open at all hours of the day and night. We expect more of them, than we would be willing to do ourselves.
That’s a pity, because when we really need help, like my family did on an early Saturday morning when most big city service shops do not have a mechanic on duty or anyone to look at a vehicle, even in an emergency, that is when we realize the importance of those "random acts of kindness" in our small towns.
Most of us can recount similar experiences when a local merchant went above and beyond the call of duty on our behalf. As we begin 2008, it wouldn’t hurt to pat those local folks on the back and thank them for all they do for our communities and our families.
Have a great week.
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Website design by:
Kim Sawatzke
Professional Results,
Reasonable Prices!
